Ah, the Jacqui Lambie Network. I don’t always agree with Jacqui Lambie, but I do like her. For the twelve people who don’t already know this, Jacqui appeared on the political landscape as a successful Senator for the Palmer United Party in 2013, but quickly broke ranks to become an Independent. Like my other Senate favourite, Ricky Muir, she came into the Senate with no background in politics, and intially did say a number of foolish things. She also has a fairly broad, working class accent, which has, unfortunately, made it easier for people to dismiss her as stupid.
But (again like Ricky), Jacqui learned on the job, and has become an effective and popular Senator for Tasmania. She is also, in my view, an argument in favour of our unofficial Senate lottery system – as a non-politician suddenly forced to learn the job of being a Senator, she brings a refreshingly non-partisan perspective to the Senate, and takes the view that her job is to put her State first. Because she is not beholden to a major party and their policies, she is actually in a position to do this. I wish we had a whole lot more senators like her – and behold, here is the Jacqui Lambie Network, which promises just that!
Would you like to vote for an independent Senator, who’ll always put their state first?
The first rule of the JLN is that you must always fight for your State’s interests in Federal Parliament, before any political party interests.
(The first rule of the Jacqui Lambie Fight Club is that you must never talk about the Jacqui Lambie Fight Club)
I do note that this approach does require the ability to discern what is in one’s State’s interests, but a reasonably intelligent person who is willing to pay attention should be able to make a fair job of it.
