Libs may pay for ‘duping’ Jacqui Lambie

PALMER United Senator-elect Jacqui Lambie is unusually savage in her approach to the Coalition government.

EVEN by today’s standard of toxic political debate, Palmer United senator-elect Jacqui Lambie is unusually savage in her approach to the Coalition government.

The Tasmanian’s outbursts — labelling Tony Abbott a “barefaced, uncaring liar” and dismissing outright the Coalition’s claim to have any mandate — may be good politics. But there is more than politics behind Lambie’s ­hatred of the Liberal Party: it’s profoundly personal.

The Australian can reveal the source of this animosity can be traced to events in 2012. Lambie, and some of her former Liberal colleagues, believe she was cynically used as a tool in a Liberal preselection fight, duped and then dumped in an episode that shaped the politician she is today.

Then a politically naive, cash-strapped single mother, Lambie joined the Liberals in November 2011. The former military policewoman, discharged with a serious spinal injury, hoped it would help her win a fairer deal for sick and injured service personnel.

“When preselection for political positions was announced, I put up my hand thinking anyone could have go,” the 43-year-old tells The Australian.

“It came as a shock when I was told that anyone could have a go — as long as they had about $2000 (for the nomination fee). I was a struggling single mum, trying to get back on my feet after years of fighting Vet Affairs.”

In 2012, Ms Lambie wanted to “have a go” at Liberal preselection for the federal seat of Braddon, but she lacked the necessary finance.

According to a statutory declaration she signed in November 2012, her plight excited the sympathy of Liberal state director Sam McQuestin. Ms Lambie says he visited her and agreed to take just $100 of the $2000 nomination fee. “A few days later, Mr McQuestin telephoned me and stated that I did not have to pay any more than the $100 because he had found someone to pay the application fee on my behalf,” she says in the sworn statement.

Ms Lambie will not reveal who she believes paid the $1900 because she is “not 100 per cent sure” but believed it at the time to be an act of philanthropy. But one view is that Ms Lambie was enlisted solely to split the vote, to ensure the benefactor’s candidate — realtor Michael Burr — defeated farmer Glynn Williams. Mr Burr, favoured by the faction of state MP Adam Brooks, won the contest. Mr Brooks denies he paid Ms Lambie’s fee.

Ms Lambie responded by flagging her intention to run as an independent. When she turned up at the party’s Braddon AGM, Mr McQuestin informed her she had voided her membership by flagging a run as an independent. “She flew off the handle and bolted,” he recalls.

He won’t say who paid Ms Lambie’s nomination fee but denies she was used in a factional play.

Ms Lambie believes she was duped. “I didn’t realise that Liberal preselections were … forums for nasty factional fights,” she says. “After I found out the truth, I felt used and soon resigned from the Liberal Party.” She began campaigning as an independent for the Senate before joining PUP, whose resources helped her clinch Tasmania’s sixth Senate seat over a Liberal.

Braddon was successfully contested for the Liberals by former state MP Brett Whiteley, after Mr Burr pulled out citing ill health.

Ms Lambie won’t say how much the events of 2012 continue to influence her approach towards the Liberals. But she hasn’t forgotten — and has no incentive to forgive.