Jacqui Lambie is no Cameron Diaz but the title of one of Diaz’s most loved films, There’s Something about Mary, might be a useful way of thinking about her. There is, after all, definitely something about Jacqui.

The political parties she’s been a member of include the Liberal Party and The Palmer United Party. She worked for Tamanian Labor Senator Nick Sherry; had to resign over the dual citizenship problem which caught many MPs and Senators; and, has been most recently narrowly elected Tasmanian Senator for the Jacqui Lambie Network. The last after a very tight race.

She has been aggressive and vociferous inside and outside Parliament and in Parliament has championed issues such as veterans affairs and youth unemployment. She opposed the Liberal Government’s university ‘reform’ bills saying it would harm, students mental health and reduce the economic opportunities of low-income students.

She had a six year battle with the Department of Veterans Affairs over her compensation and pension entitlements. DVA used private investigators and secretly filmed video evidence to undermine her claim and to portray her as a ‘malingerer’. Finally, the case was dropped just before the AAT was about to decide in her favour and blaming the DVA for a five year delay which worsened her problems.

She has also uttered Islamophobic statements and admired Putin. On the other hand, she has fought for political donations reform to achieve more transparency and was key person in the campaign to get a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

She can be unashamedly vulgar describing her perfect man as having “heaps of cash and “a package between their legs.”

More recently she has been vocal on a subject most Tasmanian politicians (other than the Greens) have been scared witless about – salmon farming. She has called for the ending of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour and the south-east coast salmon farms. “You’ve got waterways everywhere. Go and put them somewhere else. Put them out further in the sea. Go and put them on land. Go and put your fish somewhere else. You’ve made enough money off the arse of Tasmanian. Move it on,” she said.

It is perhaps unsurprising that salmon farming is an international problem. For instance, the Scottish salmon farms have been notorious for years. The Canadian industry is better regarded but it too has had problems. Norway has escaped most of the negative publicity and consumers ought to look at the salmon packages to ascertain where and how the salmon was harvested.

Most recently Lambie has been vocal on what has to be one of the most idiotic project proposals in Australia and – in Tasmanian terms – equivalent to the disastrous plan to convert the Franklin River into a massive dam.

That’s the Australian Football League’s proposal for a new stadium for a new Tasmanian team in Hobart. The AFL says the team can only be approved if Tasmania builds a new football stadium with a retractable roof. It plans to locate the stadium in the heart of historic Hobart, build it in two years and for a cost of a little bit south of a billion dollars. The likelihood of it being built in that time frame and within that budget is close to nil with the cost certainly  being more than $1 billion.

Crikey (11/6) reported that the “Jacqui Lambie Network MPs (in the Tasmanian Parliament), empowered by the government being in minority, hired Lateral Economics’ Nicholas Gruen to vet the case put forward by the government’s chosen Big Four (potentially defamatory word omitted), KPMG. Gruen patiently demolished KPMG’s work and its lowball numbers — work for which he’s since been smeared by Hobart journalists.”

Tasmania has a population of around 532,000 people and the Government is deep in debt. What a billion dollar bill for a stadium will do to help that is difficult to imagine.

It should also be said that Test Matches and football matches have been played in Tasmania for decades – all without the benefit of a billion dollar stadium with a retractable roof. Lambie has also put forward proposals as to how AFL games could be played at different locations throughout Tasmania.

Back in January Lambie made it clear what she thought about the AFL and its proposal. Sporting News reported her meeting with the AFL saying: “Sitting in front of those men, I thought, ‘Oh my god, no wonder the AFL is going down the gurgler’,” Lambie said. “Quite frankly, if that is the best leadership team they’ve got, it’s pretty disappointing. There was just nothing. You need some hardcore people in there.”

“Lambie expressed deep frustration over the AFL’s refusal to engage with criticism of the Macquarie Point project, including a damning economic review by Nicholas Gruen. She said the meeting felt predetermined, and the league showed no willingness to explore alternatives.

“They need a hard man at the top – somebody with some knackers between their legs. Christ almighty,” Lambie said. “We are in trouble here in Tasmania – man up and call us back for some other options because we don’t have the money for a roof.”

She added, “This should have united Tasmania, but instead it has ripped us apart… Slow and steady wins the race. We want this team, so come back to the fucking table.”

You might bristle about her language and some of her past political positions – but you have to recognise that there is very much something about Jacqui.