Tammy Tyrrell

Senator Tammy Tyrell
Senator for Tasmania
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2022
Preceded by	Eric Abetz
Personal details
Born	(1970-08-01) 1 August 1970 (age 54)[1] Ulverstone, Tasmania
Political party	Independent (since 2024)
Other political affiliations	Jacqui Lambie Network (until 2024)

Tammy Tyrrell (born 1 August 1970) is an Australian politician, currently a senator in the Australian Federal Parliament representing Tasmania. She ran in the 2022 federal election to represent Tasmania in the Senate, and was elected to fill the sixth vacancy.^[2] Her 6-year term started on 1 July 2022.^[1]

Tyrrell was raised in Ulverstone, Tasmania, and did not go to university. She worked on a farm after leaving school and by her own admission, got her education from working in paddocks, factories and offices.

She's had a varied work history, from pumping petrol to packing potatoes, as well as working as an employment training adviser for a job agency.^[3]

From 2014 to 2022, she worked as a staff member for Senator Jacqui Lambie.^[4]

She was selected as the lead candidate on the Jacqui Lambie Network's Senate ticket for the 2022 federal election, and won election, defeating incumbent senator Eric Abetz.^[5]

Tyrell was elected to the Federal Senate. In her first year as a Senator, Tammy successfully negotiated for more affordable homes for Tasmania,^[6] tanked a bogus $18 million slush fund for the Governor-General,^[7] helped retain the Australian Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants program,^[8] and advocated for a review into aged care facilities in Tasmania. ^[9]

On 28 March 2024, Tyrrell announced she would resign from the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) to sit as an independent, saying that Lambie was "not happy" with the way she was representing the party.^[10]

Tyrell takes a keen interest in what she terms kitchen table politics. Issues that affect working families in their daily cost of living struggles.

“Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about politics. Most people are busy, raising kids, paying the mortgage, driving home from work, tired, hoping you don’t back into a car. I get that. I’ve been there myself,” Tyrrell has said.^[11]

Tyrrell has spoken in the Senate on early childhood education and care. During July 2024 and August 2024 she has been campaigning to keep small childhood day care facilities open and has called upon both federal and state governments to sort iron out regulation loophole. ^[12]

On 21 August, 2024, Tyrrell was asked to chair one of the Australian Senate committees, heading an enquiry into the effectiveness of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme.^[13]

Tyrell was appointed to the Select Committee on Supermarket Prices in December 2023. This committee looked at Price gouging practices. Tyrell pointed out that in Tasmania, there is even less competition and called for retailers such as Aldi to be incentivised to come to the island.^[14]

At home, Tammy has two adult sons, a cat named Cookie, and a dog named Charlie. She and her partner Tim have been together 25 years – the “longest short-term relationship ever,” she jokes.

On 1st August, Tammy Responded to claims that she left the JLN because she opposed it going national. Taking to social media, she stated:

“I resigned because Jacqui told me to leave. She told me, in her own words, to go it alone. She might not remember saying it but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We worked together for eight years. When someone you’ve been that close to for eight years tells you they want you to ‘go it alone’, what do you do? When I realised I was in a partnership with someone who didn’t want me there, I pulled the pin. When your partner wants you gone, you don’t really have a choice".^[15]

This article about an Australian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e