Jacqui Lambie’s play for Qld with new candidate Ange Harper as hung parliament looms
Jacqui Lambie is making a big play to expand her influence on the crossbench as expectations of a hung parliament loom.
Jacqui Lambie has a popularity many of her fellow parliamentarians would no doubt like to bottle this election year.
Known for her impassioned pleas and unscripted verbal barbs, the Tasmanian senator’s firebrand approach to politics has returned her to the upper house three times.
Indeed, a key poll published late last year found Senator Lambie soared past her colleagues in terms of public likability and familiarity.
The independent has earnt a name for herself championing veterans’ rights and proving she can shape the legislative agenda of governments.
But the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) is a one woman show in Canberra – something she hopes to change at the impending federal vote.
It might come as no surprise that Ange Harper, the woman Senator Lambie has tasked with winning a senate seat in Queensland, is hewed from the same rock.
“I’m about service to country,” Ms Harper told NewsWire in an exclusive interview.
Their relationship spans decades, forged while serving in the same platoon back in the early ’90s.
Ms Harper spent years risking life and limb jumping out of helicopters as an army medic during her decade of service.
“That’s my foundation – caring for people,” she said.
“I still haven’t lost that because it’s part of my foundation, foundational being.”
In the more than two decades of post-service life, she has become a mother, been the first of her family to earn a degree and worked in the federal press gallery.
Most recently, she has been an advocate for a leading veterans’ support group while recovering from a brutal back injury.
She said she was in tune with the challenges facing everyday Australians, especially her fellow Queenslanders, and what voters wanted was dose of authenticity.
“I’ve been authentic since I can remember,” Ms Harper said, adding that it had gotten her “in the sh*t in the past”.
“I grew up in the bush. I grew up on a farm, then I joined Defence, then I was a journalist.
“You know, speaking my mind perhaps hasn’t done the best for me sometimes, but that’s one thing Jacqui, myself and Rex and Glenn, all have in common.”
Rex Patrick and Glenn Kolomeitz are Senator Lambie’s senate candidates in South Australia and NSW.
Both men are also veterans.
“Jacqui wouldn’t have asked us if she didn’t know we all share the same values,” Ms Harper said.
“We want to work with people to achieve the best for Australians and we know from the polling about a third of people want another option to vote for.
“They’re sick of the major parties promising the world only to be no different once they’re in government.”
The Bruce Highway, which is crucial to Queensland’s economy, is a key concern for her.
Dubbed one of Australia’s deadliest roads, just 10 per cent of the so-called goat track has a four or five star rating, according to the Australian Road Assessment Program.
At least 41 people have died driving on the notorious highway.
Recent flood-inducing rains have again shone a spotlight on the road’s inadequacies.
Ms Harper welcomed the federal government’s $7.2bn pledge to fund upgrades for the Bruce Highway but said the works needed to be hurried along.
“The government committed to refunding at 80/20, but we want to see the sod turning and see the work getting done,” Ms Harper said.
“We know the floods are coming every year and we’re economically paralysed when that happens because the road transport can’t get through.
“Why is Queensland the poor cousin when it comes to roads?”
The recent severe flooding in North Queensland has also served as a reminder of the enormous strain natural disasters place on the Sunshine State.
Ms Harper says youth volunteers may be the answer to better handling future events.
“Volunteerism in Australia is really dying off, and we need to reinject incentives and a sense of community back into younger people so they can get out and help,” she said.
She stressed it was “not about forcing anyone” and acknowledged young Australians were facing pressures that previous generations did not have.
“When I grew up, I didn’t have 24/7 social media, I didn’t have to look like a model on Instagram,” Ms Harper said.
“I didn’t have this crazy cost of living and housing that we’ve got these days.
“The pressure on young people is quite extreme today compared to when I was growing up.
“I’m a mum of two young adults and they’re smashed all the time.
“They’re trying to pay bills, this and that, and trying to have a bit of a social life and all of that.”
But she said it was “a fact that if we don’t replenish the volunteers, no one will be able to help in the aftermath of disasters”.
“If people can get into volunteering, the teamwork and the skills are really invaluable,” Ms Harper said.
The JLN has four core items on its agenda: better care for veterans, clamping down on corruption, boosting Australian manufacturing and fighting foreign interference.
Key polls have shown neither Anthony Albanese nor Peter Dutton are convincing enough voters to win government outright.
Should expectations of a hung parliament manifest, the two leaders would need to look to the crossbench to get their numbers for a government.
The upper house has already been a punish for Labor’s agenda, delaying several major pieces of legislation.
But this is where an expanded JLN could be most effective.
Ms Harper pointed to Senator Lambie’s relentless pressure on the Albanese government to action recommendations from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide as well as getting the textile union demerged from the CFMEU.
“If she can get us in to join her in the Senate, that’s just the start of the list of what we can get done,” Ms Harper said.
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