Members of the Tasmanian Parliament from the Jacqui Lambie Network get ready for the balance of power
The candidates chosen by Senator Jacqui Lambie to represent her party in the Tasmanian election were not “career politicians”; outside of their local areas, few people would have had heard of them.
They describe themselves as “just regular people who want to try and make a difference.”
The three Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) candidates who emerged victorious, namely Miriam Beswick, Andrew Jenner, and Rebekah Pentland, are now in positions of authority.
As the only viable alternative for the Tasmanian Liberals to establish government in a hung parliament, they find themselves in a unique position of power.
For the first time in their conversation as a group, the three talked about the incredible turn their lives had taken.
It’s crazy. You certainly need tough skin because it’s been an experience, Ms. Pentland said.
All of our hard work has paid off, and now that we are here, we can positively impact our government and serve the people of Tasmania.”
Ms. Beswick is appreciative that they get to experience all these novel things together, which is a plus.
“Look, if that was me on my own, that would be very, very overwhelming,” said Ms Beswick.
“But as a team, I think we’re going to work through it together.”
Although it has always been the intention to take it slow and get them established, that hasn’t been a possibility.The “Lambies” have already hinted that they are probably going to strike a deal that will ensure the trust of the Liberals and provide “in return for nothing”.They have reserved the right to make requests in the future, which may be partially the reason why they don’t yet know what they want from the Liberals.
“There will be a remit that there will be certain things that we will ask for, but we haven’t signed it yet,” Jenner stated.That will be released into the public domain, and once it is, you will be able to see what we have truly requested.
The Lambies hold all the power because the Liberals only have 14 seats and require the backing of four crossbench MPs.
All you need to do is know how to use it.
“Now that the balance of power exists, it is tremendously helpful to us. Yes, we don’t know how to use it yet, but rest assured—we’ll pick it up quickly,” Mr. Jenner remarked.