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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

It’s been almost a decade since Jacqui Lambie dramatically quit the Palmer United Party.

Since then, she’s become a political force in Canberra, and in her home state Tasmania, as the leader of the Jacqui Lambie Network.

At the last federal election, Lambie’s longtime staffer Tammy Tyrrell won a senate spot, and at the last Tasmanian election just a few months ago, the party won three seats.

But now, the Jacqui Lambie Network is imploding, after Tyrrell resigned and two of the three Tasmanian MPs were sacked.

Today, Senior Reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on the allegations Jacqui spied on her colleagues and why she hasn’t been able to hold the party together.

It’s Monday, September 2.

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RUBY:

So Rick, I think that most of us have an idea in our mind of who Jacqui Lambie is. She's the straight talking Tasmanian senator who turned her personal brand into an entire political party, the Jacqui Lambie Network. So, tell me about her journey.

RICK:

Yeah, I mean, her story is one of the more fascinating arcs. She, you know, was elected on the coattails of Clive Palmer and was pretty abrasive.

Audio Excerpt - Senator Jacqui Lambie:

“You know what? That baby's made more progress in a thousand days than the Liberal Party had on their own bill. That is where we're at. A three year old. Shameful. Shameful.”

RICK:

And so when we talk about brand Jacqui Lambie, it really is just who she is. You know, she is kind of the every woman. And I think that's why a lot of people have warmed up to her over a long period of time now since she was first elected into the Senate.

Audio Excerpt - Senator Jacqui Lambie:

“You know, having that experience of being on a single moms pension and trying to bring up, raise up two boys during a really traumatic time of my life was really difficult. So to go without, I know what that feels like and it's really difficult. And somehow I had a door open, I was one of the lucky ones and I managed to be able to get through that, but many don't.”

RICK:

And she's now got this eponymous political party, the Jacqui Lambie Network, which she’s fashioned in her image and their main motto really is just giving a leg up to the little guy. They're trying to fight to keep the bastards honest and really, their overall schtick is just accountability, transparency, you know, loyalty, making sure that politicians in particular do what they say they're going to do and are open about it.

It was originally founded because she wanted to get re-elected to the Senate after she left Clive Palmer. And it hadn't really changed much until the 2022 federal election when finally after, you know, running a few people in different tickets, this long time staffer and Jacqui Lambie loyalist, Tammy Tyrrell, a former office manager for Lambie, wins a Senate seat as part of the Jacqui Lambie Network.

So suddenly there were two. And then, of course, we have this Tasmania state election where, astoundingly, the Jacqui Lambie Network fielded a bunch of candidates and they get three MPs elected. They get Andrew Jenner, who's a former mayor from a relatively small borough in the United Kingdom. We've got Miriam Beswick, who's a small business owner type religious person from Devonport, and Rebekah Pentland, who is a pharmaceutical consultant. And having three MPs in the state parliament put them in a position of great power and influence.

Audio Excerpt - ABC Reporter:

“From outsiders, to king makers.”

Audio Excerpt - Jacqui Lambie Network representative:

“We’re not career politicians, we're just normal people that have just wanted to make a difference and wanted to just try and bring a bit of common sense back into Parliament.”

RICK:

So they signed this deal with the Liberal government, minority government, which Jacqui Lambie essentially took control of/helped them negotiate.

And if you read it, it includes a stability protocol that requires both the Liberal government and the Jacqui Lambie Network MPs to warn each other of what they're going to do, usually within 24 hours of when they intend to do it. So essentially to make life easier for both of them.

And then, of course, we're not even six months into the new government, and what should have been this era defining win for Jacqui Lambie has turned into this near implosion filled with poison and rhetoric about disloyalty and people who have betrayed the party.

RUBY:

Right, okay, so where does this begin, Rick? What were the first signs that something was going wrong within the Jacqui Lambie Network between her and her candidates?

RICK:

Really, It's five days after the state election. The federal senator, Tammy Tyrrell, announces that she's quitting the party and she does it in a, frankly, quite a strange way.

Audio Excerpt - Senator Tammy Tyrrell:

“I want you to hear this from me. I've decided to leave the Jacqui Lambie Network and become a Senator for Tasmania in my own right as an independent. Jacqui has indicated that she's not happy with the way that I've been representing the Jacqui Lambie Network...”

RICK:

She does this video, she releases this statement. It's very like, oh my god, I love Jacqui Lambie and I love the network so much and I never want to hurt it but this is like a family breakdown. We still love each other, but we can't be together kind of thing.

Audio Excerpt - Senator Tammy Tyrrell:

“As you know, when you're in a marriage where somebody has already left, you don't want to be in there just for, you know, for looks. You actually want to break out, do the right thing by the family in general, which Tasmania is my family.”

RICK:

But Lambie also, and this is critical to note, didn't really get stuck into it. She just said, okay, off you go.

Audio Excerpt - Radio National Reporter:

“Tammy Tyrrell was sacked as a senator under your name. Your state party effectively lasted five months.”

Audio Excerpt - Senator Jacqui Lambie:

“Nobody sacked Tammy Tyrrell. Tammy Tyrrell left.”

RICK:

When I asked Lambie, Jacqui Lambie, about this she was a little bit more aggressive, I guess, where she's like, all I ever asked when we got her up, which was, you know, get Tammy Tyrrell up in the Senate, was that she do what she said she would do and that is put Tasmania first. And then she went, she said, you know, I don't know why she doesn't just say I left because I wanted to leave and stop blaming people.

There is something that went on there, no one actually really knows. So Tammy Tyrell leaves literally five days after the state election, and then five months after the state election Jacqui Lambie kicks out two of the three Tasmanian MPs that she only just got elected, Miriam Beswick and Rebekah Pentland. And now, there is one state MP in the Tasmanian party, down from three.

RUBY:

Right, so she has one seemingly loyal MP left, but what happened to these other two Tasmanian MPs, to Miriam Beswick and Rebekah Pentland?

RICK:

Yeah, this is a fascinating part of the story because it really depends on who you ask. But everyone, no matter whose side they’re on, agrees on the fundamental truth which is that there was a massive breakdown. And the relationship between Jacqui Lambie, Miriam Beswick and Rebekah Pentland in particular had been souring for months. And one of the main reasons for that was Beswick and Pentland truly believed that some of the key staff, the parliamentary staff, the highly paid staff, that Lambie had scrounged around and found for them were actually spies.

RUBY:

Really? Why did they think that?

RICK:

Yeah, I mean that, I was like, oh, I can't just write that they're spies. And then everyone kept saying no, they thought they were spies, including people who were on their side. So, you know, that's what they thought. Why is another matter. You know, if you ask someone like Andrew Jenner, he's the one remaining MP, he’s saying, well, that's just how they felt. You know, they were new to this. They didn't have any experience. They wanted to spread their wings a little bit but the staffers, as were trying to advise them about how to be successful and deal with the parliament, and Beswick and Pentland just didn't believe that they had their interests at heart even though they were in this party. They treated them terribly, according to some sources within the party, and the staffers felt they had no choice but to just walk out.

And I've tried to triangulate this as much as possible, but I ended up speaking to someone else about this. His name is Glynn Williams. He's a lawyer. He's been a Lambie consigliere for over a decade but he said there were, and I'm quoting him here, strange aberrations in the establishment of the office in Hobart. He said, I don't think that that was handled in a collaborative manner and that must have caused confusion to everyone involved, including the staff. Now, he said he tried to fix things and he had some frank conversations with Jacqui Lambie. She told him, apparently, she rejected his approach in very colourful terms. Those two didn't speak for seven weeks after that, and then he says he was fired by a letter from Jacqui Lambie just saying you are no longer needed.

So she sacks him and then just kind of assumes the mantle of president of her own party.

RUBY:

Right. Another person gone.

RICK:

Yeah. I mean, as much as you might want to have faith in people, you do have to start asking questions when quite a few people go missing. He's gone. They've got a new board and Pentland and Beswick tried to get Jacqui Lambie to sign an agreement saying that you will not intervene in the affairs of the state party and you will do this and you will do that. And Jacqui Lambie’s people were like, no, we're not signing that, this is our party. And, of course, Lambie’s office viewed the whole thing as insubordination. And it really, it left this wound from which it was really difficult to recover. And it festered for another three months until the weekend before last when Pentland and Beswick were just spectacularly expelled.

RUBY:

Coming up after the break, the party splits over the spirit of Tasmania.

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RUBY:

So Rick, recently after months of tension including allegations of spying, Jacqui Lambie sacks two of her Tasmanian MPs saying that they're not being accountable, they're not being transparent. So tell me, what tipped things over. Why did this happen now?

RICK:

This is my favourite part because I've get to talk about boats. Two Spirits of Tasmania replacements. Now, anyone who's ever been to Tasmania on the back of a boat will have been on The Spirit of Tasmania. These enormous ships that cross the Bass Strait. The government there, for many, many, many years now, has promised to replace the two spirits of Tasmania at a cost of like $1 billion. So this is like, for a state like Tasmania, this is one of the biggest infrastructure projects you can possibly have. It's hugely critical for the economy, tourism, but also, you know, productivity in terms of the northern half of the state and access to mainland Australia. It has not gone well. The ships are five years late. They're $500 million over budget.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The two new spirits were originally meant to arrive three years ago at a cost of $700 million. That price tag has blown out to almost a billion.”

RICK:

And, now that they are actually close to being arriving in Tasmania, it emerges that the port in Devenport does not have a berth that can hold them.

Audio Excerpt - News Reporter:

“The ship's new berth at Devonport won't be ready until 2026, with the cost growing from the original estimate of $90 million to $375 million.”

RICK:

Despite the fact that this Tasmanian owned company, TT line, has been telling everyone that everything's going to be fine, and the infrastructure minister, Michael Ferguson, that everything is on time and on track, that was not true. And Michael Ferguson says he didn't find out until they formed government again, despite the fact that he should have been kept in the loop, but very few people in Tasmania are willing to accept that he was just not told about the fact that the biggest infrastructure project in living memory doesn't have a berth. Now, Jacqui Lambie, after all of this, and after all this emerges only in the last few weeks, comes out and says Michael Ferguson, the minister, needs to be accountable. He should resign.

Audio Excerpt - Senator Jacqui Lambie:

“Part of our values is holding people accountable and we just do not, we did not believe that they were holding Michael Ferguson accountable.”

RICK:

And Beswick and Pentland, two of her MPs who have signed an agreement saying that they will support the government in most circumstances unless there's corruption or malfeasance, Pentland in Beswick were just like, well, shouldn't we just wait for the Public Affairs Public Accounts Committee to do its job and then we can decide what to do?

Audio Excerpt - Rebekah Pentland:

“You know, it really did put us in an awkward position with our supplying confidence deal.”

Audio Excerpt - Miriam Beswick:

“We're here to bring stability. We weren't here to hold the government hostage.“

RICK:

You know, they all agree it's a stuff up. But they were more interested in maintaining the stability of the government, whereas Lambie was more interested, despite the deal that she negotiated, in just putting the boot in. And that's where we had this big breakdown.

RUBY:

All right. So it seems like at the heart of this disagreement, Rick, is this deal that Jacqui Lambie and the MPs made with the government. Jacqui Lambie seems to not think that's important anymore. These MPs seem to think it's very important to stick to it. So, is this really more about them not doing what Jacqui Lambie wants and says at all times?

RICK:

I think it really gets to the nub of the issue. And to kind of get my head around this, I called the Tasmanian based election analyst Kevin Bonham to kind of walk me through it. Now, interestingly enough he's not just an election expert, he's also a recognised expert on land snails in Tasmania. He'd just been out collecting specimens and looking for them, which I think is just perfect because, as he said, everyone in Tasmania has more than one job.

So essentially, as he said, the agreement is almost universally considered to be woeful. But he was saying that really the problem is that the original agreement says what it is. And then Lambie, and her later expectations, that they do not agree. He's saying that she's been all over the place and the position from the party was inconsistent, I'm quoting him, and it left the MPs in a really difficult position. If you want to have an eponymous party where you're, you know, where what one person says goes, you could do that, he says, but you need to sell it as such and they didn't. They sell themselves as a sort of loose, decentralised network of people, who Lambie thinks are good. And of course, if you look at the party pamphlet online, it says we let our members disagree with each other, that's okay. We don't want to rule people's thoughts. And then when they get elected, Lambie wants them to do certain things but that's not the basis that they ran under.

RUBY:

Okay. So Rick, I think the big question here though is if you have lost the majority of your MPs, do you still have a party? Or is this the end of the Jacqui Lambie Network?

RICK:

Well, I mean, she's had the network since 2015 and was alone for most of that time. So yeah, I guess you do. She's got Andrew Jenner, and he remains very loyal.

I mean, the problem with trying to model any political movement on a single person is that there's only one of that single person by nature. There's only one Jacqui Lambie, and you're not going to have a party of ten of them. It's impossible. And so you're going to have agreements, and if you're not mature enough to actually sort out a framework or a party constitution that actually, you know, stipulates when and how this stuff should all work, then you're not ready, and very few people often are. And apart from your dynastic successors like the Catter family, even Nick Xenophon who was incredibly successful for a long time, eventually overreached a little bit.

You know, it just, what do you want out of it? I guess is the question. Jacqui Lambie, she started the party because she sort of needed to to get herself re-elected and it worked.

The fact that she's still there as a senator is an incredible achievement in her own right, but does she have what it takes to keep a party together? The signs are not good. They're not good.

RUBY:

Rick, thank you so much for your time and for your reporting.

RICK:

Thanks Ruby.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today,

The Philippines and China have accused each other of intentionally ramming coast guard vessels in the South China Sea.

The most recent collision over the weekend was the fifth maritime incident between the two countries in the past month.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in 2016 it has no legal basis to do so.

Parts of the area are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits.

And, Scotland may use almost $200 million of Victorian government money to host the Commonwealth Games in 2026.

Following speculation in the British media, Commonwealth Games Scotland said it would not need financial support from the government in order to host the games, partly because of the compensation the Victorian government paid for withdrawing from hosting.

Nationals leader David Littleproud says the news was an “embarrassment that the Victorian government has imposed on Australia”.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you tomorrow.

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