After her father Tom passed away earlier this month, Jacqui Lambie thanked her fans for their thoughtful comments.
The Tasmanian senator said in a Facebook message to her followers that she will mourn her father “every day” after learning of his passing on June 18.
‘Thank you for all the messages of love and support I’ve received in the last week. It means so much,’ the 51-year-old wrote on Monday.
‘It’s hard to imagine a life without Dad. I will miss him every day.’
Senator Lambie withheld the cause of her father’s 72-year-old demise. After her parents’ separated when she was 13 years old, she stayed close to him.
Sen. Lambie recounted their split in a 2014 interview with Women’s Weekly. It didn’t really disturb me, she said.
‘We were told the night before, and Dad moved out the next day. Basically what happened was, there was a lady, and Dad would take us around to her house and she had pictures of me and my brother (Bobby) on her mantelpiece.
‘I said to Mum, ”why does this lady have pictures of us on the mantelpiece?” And Mum said: ”Where does this lady live?” And it was basically from there that Dad left and now he’s on his third divorce and living in a caravan so he’s not had the best luck in that regard.’
Senator Lambie lived with her mum and younger brother in housing commission after her parents sold the family home.
‘I remember Mum telling us it doesn’t matter where you live it’s what’s inside,’ she said.
Senator Lambie, a single parent of two, gave birth to her first kid when she was 18 years old.
Between 1989 and 2000, she spent 10 years in the military working in the transport management and military policing divisions.
She sustained a significant back injury in 1997 while participating in a field activity, permanently damaging her spine.
Three years later, she was ultimately medically released from the army.
Despite beginning her political career in 2008, Senator Lambie didn’t create her own party, the Jacqui Lambie Network, until 2015.
A second JLN candidate, Tammy Tyrrell, was elected to the Senate at this year’s election.
Senator Lambie has been described as a larrikin and often leaves Today Show host Karl Stefanovic in stitches on the breakfast program.
