Lambie backs new veterans party

A new political party dedicated to military veterans has received a boost from Jacqui Lambie, who is considering her future with the Palmer United Party.

Lambie in the Senate today. (AAP)

Jacqui Lambie in the Senate. (AAP)

Jacqui Lambie has thrown her support behind a fledgling political party set up to support military veterans.

The Australian Defence Veterans Party is in the final stages of getting enough supporters to register with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Senator Lambie, who is considering quitting the Palmer United Party partly over its lack of support for a higher Defence personnel pay rise, "liked" the ADVP on Facebook this week.

This sparked a flurry of membership enquiries to the NSW-based organisation and speculation she may join.

ADVP spokesman Ron Evans told AAP the party had not approached Senator Lambie nor had she approached executive members.

Asked whether she could join the party, Mr Evans said: "It's her call."

"I take my hat off to Jacqui - she's a very strong woman who is prepared to call a spade a spade."

Mr Evans said the party, which held its inaugural meeting on Australia Day, was close to getting enough support to be registered.

If Senator Lambie was to join the party it would be automatically registrable under electoral laws.

The ADVP's objectives are to "provide an honest and accountable alternative political option for the Australian people" and a "political voice for Defence veterans, their families and, by extension, the wider community".

Senator Lambie, a former military police officer and staunch advocate for Defence personnel, told reporters on Thursday she hadn't decided whether to stay in PUP.

But she is getting legal and parliamentary advice on breaking away.

"I'm going back home for the weekend to be around my Tasmanians and my Tasmanian mentors down there," she said.

"Obviously, I'll make a decision from there on in."

Senator Lambie rejected suggestions she could form her own party.

"That would be an overload for me," she said.

The senator has lost her position as deputy Senate leader and deputy whip of PUP and been suspended from party meetings over a spat with leader Clive Palmer.

Mr Palmer has accused her of lying to parliament when she claimed he was trying to intimidate her and interfere with her role in the Senate.

She has stripped her website of reference to PUP and Mr Palmer has taken her name off his party's site.

Senator Lambie on Wednesday joined with others in a so-called "coalition of common sense" to overturn controversial financial advice laws - against the PUP party line.


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Published 20 November 2014 10:03am
Updated 20 November 2014 3:48pm


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