Independent MP Jacqui Lambie. Photo / Gary Ramage, NCA NewsWire
Independent MP Jacqui Lambie. Photo / Gary Ramage, NCA NewsWire
Outspoken Australian senator Jacqui Lambie has unleashed on Scott Morrison, accusing him of lying and labelling him as the country's worst Prime Minister in history.
Senator Lambie screeched across the Senate chamber on Tuesday as she repeatedly lashed Morrison and his government for their "incompetence", stating she was looking forward to the Coalition losing the upcoming federal election.
"You are finished in the next election. You're gone," Lambie said.
"You're finished in Tasmania. I reckon your two seats are gone. They're completely gone.
"And I look forward to doing that. I look forward to running my own candidates in those seats, and passing those preferences where they deserve to go – not to political liars."
The enraged independent senator then narrowed in her attack on the Prime Minister, blasting Morrison for failing to deliver on many of his election promises.
"[The Coalition] have gone from one prime minister to another and this is the worst one on record," she said.
"He's incompetent. He's not a leader and I'm enjoying watching him and you fall apart."
Lambie said it was "shameful" that the Australian government had failed to establish a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption almost three years on from when Morrison first promised to do so.
Independent MP Jacqui Lambie. Photo / Gary Ramage, NCA NewsWire
"It's been 1076 days since the PM stood up and told the country they'd get an integrity commission in this term of Parliament," she said.
"He told us that he was committed to getting it done – another lie."
Labor and the Crossbench rallied together to try to debate independent MP Helen Haine's own version of an ICAC bill in the Senate, but the motion failed by one vote.
Lambie's outburst follows a series of explosive speeches from the outspoken politician.
On Monday, she gave a powerful speech in response to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who introduced a bill to ban mandatory vaccinations and overturn state and territory leaders' requirements for full vaccination to be required in some settings.
The bill failed to pass despite five coalition senators crossing the floor after Lambie told unvaccinated Australians to be a "goddamn bloody adult" and put others before themselves.
Lambie reaffirmed her stance on Tuesday, saying governments keeping unvaccinated people away from businesses was not discrimination.
"You have a choice. If you don't want to be vaccinated, you have that choice, but we have people in aged care and we can make sure that they stay safe and our choice is that we want those people in there and working around them to be vaccinated," she told Sunrise.
"It's not different to pubs, clubs, tourist places … We [have] to put others before ourselves, this is the Australian way.
"We have been given the freedom to make that decision, so you wear what comes with it."
Amid mass anti-mandatory vaccine protests across country, Morrison has been critical of state's and territory's edicts, saying the federal government would never make the jab compulsory – except in aged care settings.
But Senator Lambie told the Nine Network that Morrison needed to stop trying to play "both sides", saying it was "dangerous".
Australian PM Scott Morrison. Photo / Getty Images
"I think it is not helpful if you don't have a solid leader that's leading the country that wants to try to please everybody," she said.
"This is a serious situation we're in, and he needs to stick by his guns and get on with this … He can't be playing both sides.
"We're all getting a taste of our freedoms back and he needs to be really, really solid here."
Lambie told ABC Radio National Morrison's stance was "bringing division into this country".
"Be solid, be a leader, and show it," she said.
It comes as Maverick MP George Christensen is threatening to cause chaos in Parliament unless the federal government acts quickly to protect Australians from "vaccine discrimination".
The Coalition controls 76 of 151 members of the House of Representatives, including the Speaker.
If Christensen was to follow through on his threat and cross the floor, the government would need the support of Labor or a crossbencher to pass legislation.
