Jacqui Lambie
Updated: Wikipedia source
Jacquiline Louise Lambie (born 26 February 1971) is an Australian politician and former soldier who is the leader and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). She is a Senator for Tasmania since 2019, and was previously a Senator from 2014 to 2017. Lambie grew up in public housing in Devonport before serving as a corporal in the Australian Army. Attempting to seek Liberal preselection after joining the party in 2011, and previously working as a staff member of Labor senator Nick Sherry, Lambie joined the Palmer United Party (PUP), led by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer. She was elected to the Senate at the 2013 federal election. Her term began in July 2014. Lambie received national prominence for her intense grassroots campaign and subsequently her display of aggressive and vociferous parliamentary behaviour, championing issues concerning foreign affairs, veterans' affairs, youth unemployment, and promoting racism and islamophobia. After persistent internal divisions, in November 2014, Lambie resigned from the Palmer United Party to sit in the Senate as an independent. In May 2015, she formed the Jacqui Lambie Network political party with herself as leader. She was elected to a six-year term in her own right at the 2016 federal election (a double dissolution). In November 2017, she was revealed to hold Australian-British dual citizenship, having inherited British citizenship from her Scottish-born father. As part of the parliamentary eligibility crisis, she announced her resignation on 14 November 2017. After a recount, she was replaced by Devonport Mayor Steve Martin, who had been second on the JLN ticket in the 2016 federal election. He survived a challenge to his own eligibility, on a different constitutional ground, but refused to step down so as to create a casual Senate vacancy to which Lambie could be appointed. She later expelled him from the party for disloyalty. Lambie was re-elected to the Senate at the 2019 election, and was reelected at the 2025 Australian federal election.