Jacqui Lambie admits to tensions with Clive Palmer but is impressed by the 'real deal'

Updated

Jacqui Lambie has admitted to tensions with Palmer United Party (PUP) founder Clive Palmer but says she has been impressed by the knowledge of a man who is the "real deal".

Mr Palmer and his band of PUP renegades have been making waves in federal politics, striking deals with the Abbott Government to get rid of the controversial carbon and mining taxes.

The three PUP senators — Lambie, Glenn Lazaraus and Dio Wang — hold the balance of power votes in the Upper House and have become a thorn in the side of Government as they try to pass unpopular budget measures.

Senator Lambie, from Tasmania, hinted at the robustness of her negotiations with Mr Palmer over the repeal of the mining tax.

"Clive and I, we're getting a little bit argy bargy at the moment about the schoolkids bonus and the low income supplement," she told Australian Story two weeks ago.

"We don't usually disagree, this is a bit of a rumbling between us.

"I don't agree with it, so I'll try my luck and see whether I can sort it out and sort of go over his head a bit."

I need to keep Clive Palmer off the Tim Tams so I can keep him alive long enough to keep mentoring me. Jacqui Lambie

Senator Lambie admitted she and Mr Palmer have had their teething problems.

"I think Clive Palmer needs to be a lot more honest across the table with me and stop clowning around at times, because that really annoys me," she said.

"I'm a person of action and I want it done and I want to know what's going on.

"I don't back down to Clive Palmer and I shouldn't have to. Even a billionaire needs to be told every now and then.

"Clive Palmer might be my leader but Clive Palmer's not my boss. The Tasmanian people are my boss and that's it, full stop."

Lambie sank into depression after being discharged from the Army

Senator Lambie was a former Army driver and military police officer who injured her back on a weekend training exercise in 1997.

Three years later she was medically discharged from the Army.

What followed was a 10-year legal saga with the Department of Veterans Affairs as Senator Lambie tried to get the treatment and compensation she felt she was owed.

She sank into depression and began abusing alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs while still trying to look after her two sons.

"Most days you'll wake up and think, 'I've really got to take my life. I'm of no benefit to my own children, let alone anybody else'," Senator Lambie said.

"I'd written a letter to the boys each and left them in my drawer and I just said, 'Right, here's a perfect opportunity’.

"I had a few drinks and off I went. I walked out in front of a car. I'd had enough, I'd had a gutful. That was it. I was finished. I was gone."

Do you think [PUP] senators are any lesser people because they're normal Australians and they haven't been apparatchiks of the Liberal or Labor Party for 30 years? Clive Palmer

But instead of being the end, it was a new beginning. Recovering from the physical injuries, she sought psychiatric help and clawed her way back into the land of the living.

In her darkest moments, she had vowed that if she ever got back on her feet she was going to try to get into politics to fight for the rights of other veterans.

Senator Lambie told Australian Story: "Right, if I'm going to get back at these people and be able to help others, then I could do this through politics."

She joined the ALP and worked for a time in Nick Sherry's office before joining the Liberal Party to learn what she could about the political game.

In 2012, she sold her house to back herself as an independent.

"I took whatever money I could out of that and invested it in myself," she said.

"When you've been down and out for 10 years, who's going to invest in you?"

We realised she was a genuine person: Palmer

Mr Palmer was happy to step up. Senator Lambie had written to him about cases of disgruntled veterans and they worked out they had interests in common.

"She first applied to join the party and then nominated herself as a potential Senate candidate for Tasmania," Mr Palmer said.

"She'd already been campaigning for about a year or so I think as an independent candidate and she saw the advantages of the party policies and working with people who had the same sort of interest."

The most impressive thing is his knowledge. It has taken me a while to build that trust. Jacqui Lambie

Mr Palmer collects outsiders he said are "tough enough and committed enough in what they do to break that system".

"And does Jacqui Lambie fit that bill? Of course she does. So does Dio Wang and Glenn Lazarus, and so do I," he said.

"Do you think our senators are any lesser people because they're normal Australians and they haven't been apparatchiks of the Liberal or Labor Party for 30 years?

"We realised she was a genuine person and we thought it was important to have a woman of her strength and character in the team.

"She's had some difficult times in her life, she's made some mistakes and she's learnt from them and become wiser, and that was the most important thing."

Adds Fairfax columnist Jacqueline Maley: "Jacqui Lambie is completely unvarnished by the political machine. You might say that she's rough as guts, but she resembles real people more than anybody else in Parliament."

'I was actually in awe of him to be honest'

At first, Senator Lambie was as flummoxed by Mr Palmer as the rest of the population.

"I didn't really know how to take him, because he's a larger-than-life character, let's be honest," she said.

After her first two weeks negotiating the repeal of the carbon tax, Senator Lambie was singing Mr Palmer's praises.

"The most impressive thing is his knowledge. It has taken me a while to build that trust," she said.

"I've probably given him a harder time than I've given anybody in my life.

"Watching him those first two weeks in sittings in Parliament, I just thought 'wow'.

"I was actually in awe of him to be honest. I just thought, 'yep, you're the real deal'.

"I need to keep Clive Palmer off the Tim Tams so I can keep him alive long enough to keep mentoring me."

Palmer gets antsy during ice bucket challenge

It was a dark and windy night last week on the eve of Senator Lambie's maiden speech.

Out the front of Parliament House, we stomped our feet in the freezing air as Channel Ten's The Project prepared a live cross of Senator Lambie taking the ALS ice bucket challenge.

As she sat shivering in shorts and t-shirt, Mr Palmer stood impatiently to the side — his job to do the actual pouring of water and ice.

The live cross was taking a while and he was getting antsy.

Spotting a second bucket of iced water behind the camera gear, Mr Palmer assumed he was to be ambushed.

Suddenly he lunged for it, upending it over the grass and the director's jeans with a few choice words thrown in.

He stormed off into the night declaring he would never go near The Project again as the director ran after him, trying to reassure him that the second bucket was a standby prop in case the first one failed.

Senator Lambie just rolled her eyes.

"I'm used to that," she said.

Watch the full story, Getting The Hang Of It, on Australian Story at 8pm.

Topics: political-parties, government-and-politics, clive-palmer, australia, qld, tas

First posted