Note: this story was amended post publication. See end of story.
Jacqui Lambie has come out punching for this election. She’s not up for reelection herself, but under the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) banner she’s running Tammy Tyrrell, her former office manager, for the sixth Senate slot in Tasmania. They’re charging round the countryside in a van, putting up posters, featuring the two together.
“I’m fighting for those who need a leg up,” her website reads, “but I can’t do it alone.”
She’s not. Having initially said she didn’t have a media person, Lambie has been using staffer Carmela Chivers to do media liaison as she travels around the state. Crikey was text tick-tacking with Chivers throughout the morning about getting an interview, or 15 minutes, with Tyrrell.
Trouble is Chivers, who claimed by phone to be “helping out” on media, is employed as Lambie’s “legislator”, a senator’s staffer who focuses on drafting proposed legislation and examines proposals up for voting.
It’s a taxpayer-funded position for doing due diligence as an elected representative. Chivers can work for Lambie’s reelection but not for the election of others — even if they’re in the same party/group.
Has she taken unpaid leave to do the media work, or is she doing it on the taxpayers’ five cents, a clear breach of the rules?
The job would be more than a few phone calls — though even a few phone calls is a breach. Decisions are clearly being made about who gets an interview or heads-up on an appearance, to keep Tyrrell — a political neophyte — away from tricky questions.
Thus The Advocate newspaper in Burnie was there for her appearance at the hot rod show at the Ulverstone showgrounds, on Tasmania’s north coast. But no one else was, and it asked (or published) no questions on policy.
Nor can there be any “aw shucks” excuse from staff. Lambie is increasingly populating her office with knowing insiders. Her chief of staff is Cameron Amos, a 30-something political professional who’s bounced around the Australia Institute, Labor and the Greens before landing with Lambie. Chivers is ex-Grattan Institute.
This is part of a pattern whereby Lambie is increasingly turning to left outfits — especially the Australia Institute — for her staff since she broke with former chief-of-staff (and for a time JLN vice-president) Rob Messenger, a former Queensland Liberal whom Clive Palmer connected her to when she was briefly a member of the Palmer United Party.
Lambie eventually concluded that Messenger was playing her like a cheap fiddle, at which point she turned to the Australia Institute. It has saved her from disaster more than once, allegedly steering her away from anti-vax, anti-mask politics and from support for a nationwide rollout for the cashless welfare card — of which many Tasmanian voters are terrified.
However, in the process the Lambie pitch — outsider maverick — has become something of a façade as centre-left political professionals craft policy, some of which Lambie’s supporters would agree with, such as more public housing, and some of which they would emphatically not.
Nor is she lacking a buck. Her eye-searing, black-and-yellow website looks deliberately daggy, but it is professionally designed to maximise donation requests; many donors come from interstate.
Lambie has recently bought and refurbished a house just outside of Burnie — according to a long and sympathetic profile in The Monthly, itself a sure sign of Lambie’s acceptance by the elite.
Has the outsider got sufficiently inside that her staff are working her politics on the taxpayers’ dime? Chivers did not reply to a request for clarification by press time. We texted Lambie on the most recent mobile number we have that is said to be hers, but there was no reply to that either.
Post publication, Jacqui Lambie told Crikey:
The only reason this story exists is because its author is angry we knocked back his request for an interview. Don’t take my word for it: he said it himself. On the phone, immediately after this story went online, and I’m directly quoting, Guy Rundle said, “if you’re not going to let me go out for 15 minutes [putting] up signs, this is what you get.”
Guy said that talking to a journalist about a candidate’s availability is against the rules, which begs the question how my media advisor was supposed to know what he was going to say before he’d said it. But to try and pick apart the logic of the story is to miss the point: it’s designed as punishment. I’ve told Carmela that, as far as I’m concerned, the only mistake Carmela Chivers made was answering the phone when Guy Rundle called. Rest assured, it won’t happen again.
Guy Rundle replies: The story arose because Ms Chivers and I exchanged three texts over the course of an hour on Wednesday morning (after I put in a call on Tuesday evening) , in which I asked if it would be possible to get an interview with Ms Tyrrell, the Jacqui Lambie Network’s Senate candidate, Ms Chivers texted that it would not, and that they were focusing on local media. I then texted that it would be possible to double up with local media, and asked whether Ms Tyrrell was being kept from scrutiny.
I was then informed by someone that Ms Chivers was Ms Lambie’s legislator, and texted Ms Chivers a question about this, to which she did not reply. This is clearly not just ‘answering the phone’. This is active media work by a parliamentary staffer, either making a decision on Tyrrell’s behalf, or getting a decision from Tyrrell about media and relaying it. Is it Watergate? No, but, as I wrote, there are clear questions to be answered about whether it is a breach of regulations. If flouted by major parties en masse, it would give them thousands of hours of free political work. So it was there, it’s a story. Hire a hands-off media worker.
Well, GRundle, after your heroic prediction that the idiot-actor Zelenskiy would surrender or be killed within a few weeks of the Russian invasion, and bring ruin to his whole nation, you’re now choosing to slam Jacquie Lambie, rather than, I dunno, actually talk about the election or the high-level corruption and routine rorting and skullduggery that pervades the major parties.
At least it wasn’t a 5 000 word piece on the machinations of the Lower Fiddlington branch of the Labor party. For that we can be thankful.
I was surprised by the pettiness of this article considering the billions of dollars being given to fossil fuel companies. Methinks he doesn’t admire the Lambie.
Yeah, which is weird, considering previous writings.
I think Covid and lack of access to inebriation and socialisation has hit hard.
GRundle’s many brilliances don’t seem to include self-understanding, because this reeks of classic lashing out at your allies (in the broader sense) that typifies the post-modern working class and other disenfranchised groups. Weird that someone as perceptive as Rundle can’t see what’s going on with himself.
I didn’t predict anything about the course of the Ukraine war. I suggested that if Russia won early, there wouldnt be the level of post war resistance as in Iraq.
The story’s the story Bob, wherever it happens.
The story of lower fidlington labour party remains the ‘most read’ on the website, so yr in a minority there
Bob
But the quote on Ukraine holds. What else would stop the war? Putin has clearly shown that military reversals alone has not stopped him. The judgements holds as a reasonable one.
What it has to do with Lambie, though…. Petty? pot, kettle
I’m confident nominating this already as the Smallest Scoop of the Campaign. Not because it’s not a legit story – of course it is. As especially is Lambie’s bratty, sooky dummy spit at being caught, red-handed, being just another grasping polly.
It’s the Smallest Scoop – almost redundant, but clearly not quite, Bob the B – because most people have already long picked Lambie’s Tasmanian Battler Riffing as a total con. She’s been by far the least authentic of all the many inauthentic grifting b/s artists to have grifted their b/s opportunist way into and about the last few decades’ Parliaments. Your Andrew Wilkie and Brian Harradine Tassy Indy types at least believe in something bigger than themselves and grift for their whole state. And are decent with and good at it. Lambie in contrast has achieved pretty much nothing with her Senate vote. She’s been a Morrison PM-ship rubber stamp in particular, loud yapping notwithstanding.
In truth her tedious ‘I call it like it is, moit, I’m a bogan and fiercely proud of it, moit!’ stuff is essentially the beady-eyed reality TV shtick of a wannabe celeb; intelligence-insulting panto even to those of us who can still tear up during the last 5 minutes of MAFS. Lambie is a classic Australian middle class social climber, Noeline Baker on the public purse.
If you’re bemused at my cattiness – but still angered (as you should be) by Shorten’s loss in 2019, while also growing fed up all over again with Fat Clive’s current Star Wars Cantina harem of cash-struck Karens, tinfoilers and sleazy opportunists – don’t ever forget for a second that the ‘plain-speakin’, plucky’ Senator Lambie is one of his spawn. The only reason we have to suffer this tedious, ineffectual poser in one of our precious, rare Senate seats….is because of his odious, democracy-spoiling billions.
You want more of them in our next Parliament, do you? Really?
These types are FoS and they are tyre-kicking, resource-squandering time-wasters. Don’t romanticise Jackie Lambie. She’s had an unusually long go in the big time for a small town nickel-and-dime grifter, and – as only your small town nickel-and-dime grifter can, and will – she’s thoroughly wasted that big time. All Ornry Oz FM radio pube chats and front bar footy mouth on The 7.30 Report….but she’s not delivered a jot of substance for anyone but herself. And here she is now trying to big up her own Palmer Mini-Me grifter network on the same old taxpayer coin – a breakaway political franchise pyramid flog-scam if ever there was one.
For the good Senator Noeline rather likes the posh life, it turns out. Quelle surprise! Like all con artists she’s an expert wind sniffer, and having Clived into the lush life on the back of the Alt Right vibe of the last decade, she’s now sucking up to the more gullible soft pap progs who she reckons are her meal ticket for the next. If some ‘systemic change!!’ suckers hereabouts are still gullible enough to swallow her bilge, it’s all the more reason for Rundle to call it out. Loudly and bluntly, on the stump.
She’s a spoiling, self-important sideshow in an already spoiled, fractured Parly that desperately needs anything BUT more of her pointlessly noisy, opportunist ilk.
Not forgetting that it’s easier to land one of 12 Senate seats in a state with fewer than 360,000 voters, the lowest education levels and highest median age in the country.
I’ve no automatic gripe at all with lesser educated, older and/or any other demographically-reflective candidate getting a fair go in the big house. But Taswegians are entitled to know exactly who this Ms Tyrrell is and how she intends to vote in Parly before they hand her, too, $200k/year, a Comcar fleet and taxpayer-funded staffers for six years. If she’s any good there ought be no reason for the JLN to firewall her from even 15 minutes of sceptical scrutiny, using a Parly pro as principle blocker.
Right, Senator Lambie?
Not romanticising her.
It’s just pretty low-hanging fruit, that’s all. Very low-hanging fruit.
She mightn’t have done much with her precious Senate seat, but Rundle isn’t doing much with his privileged position writing for one of Australia’s few independent, credible news sources.
Low hanging? You’re kidding, Bob, right? Rundle’s a non-mainstream press freelancer on maybe half a private sector buck/word if he’s lucky, when he’s lucky. I doubt he’s ever seen inside the QANTAS Corporate lounge, let alone got to crankily slice a couple of underpaid hospitality bots into his G&T.
Senator Lambie has been on the juicy taxpayer teat for the best part of seven years and has another three at least to go. She might well have a hugely disproportionate say in how the entire joint responds to CC in that time. Especially if her celeb brand gets a second Senator up, and especially if it does so in the disingenuously iffy faith her own track record and this minor but I think illustrative vignette here suggests.
Tyrrell needs the kind of scrutiny now that Lambie ought to have got back when she was flying in under Clive’s ample span. That’s all. But it’s a very very legitimate story.
The smallest scoop is surely the Oz’s expose that Albo studied in the gasp ‘political economy’ faculty!!!! And JR yr comment on smallest scoop is longer than the scoop itself
yep fair enough, all points taken
Defending this petty story by saying NewsCorpse is even more petty? True enough, but still.
Crikey GRundle. Not your best effort! Sure we want you to be without fear or favour but really this is a story?
Yep, it’s a story, cos it’s there, it happened. It’s one story, in the 25 a day we’re doing during election. What if Hanson or Clive Palmer were doing it? Wld you want us to ignore it then?
Good on Crikey for having the guts to publish the response to this piece, which certainly casts Rundle in a yet poorer light.
Lift your game Rundle – you’re the only reason I still subscribe to Crikey!
Less trunkless legs of stone, more clay feet, a dumb person’s idea of a good writer.
Or perhaps simply legless?
Half drunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command…
My name is Grundle, King of Pens;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay of that colossal Wreck, boundless ego bare, unread.
Apols to Percy Bysshe.
This is not the first time lambie has used staffers to run campaigns for candidates other than herself. 3 interstate senate teams in 2016 election.