Crossbench senator Tammy Tyrrell joins government ranks, declaring she’s ‘proud to be a Labor girl’

Written by: Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

Senator Tammy Tyrrell, who started her parliamentary career as part of the Jacqui Lambie Network before turning independent, has now joined Labor.

“I’m very proud to be a Labor girl,” she declared at a news conference with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

While this gives the government an improved buffer it does not change the basic situation in the Senate – Labor will still need either the Greens or the opposition to pass legislation.

Albanese heaped praise on his new recruit, saying she had been “a good-faith negotiator, making a difference for Tasmania as an independent”.

Tyrrell entered the Senate in 2022 under the Jacqui Lambie Network banner. She became an independent in 2024, saying Lambie had indicated she was not happy about how Tyrrell was representing the party.

Tyrrell told the news conference: “I’m not going to apologise to anybody for joining Labor. It’s a good fit. I have supported Labor very regularly over the last four years. But I’ve also pushed back when things for Tasmania [are] important, and I will still do that, but I will do it respectfully and calmly within caucus”.

Mid last year, the Nationals approached Tyrrell (and other crossbenchers) about joining them after they lost their Senate party status at the election.

Tyrrell told the Conversation’s Politics podcast at the time the approach was “a big compliment”, although she declined the invitation

“The Nats represent rural and regional Australia beautifully, by speaking their voice and for them to see that I am representing the people of Tasmania in a good light - it was a huge compliment to be approached to join them. But I’d already been in a relationship and I’m quite happy being a single divorcee.

"It’s amazing being an independent, it means that I can say and do what my community wants me to in their voice without having to agree to broad-sweeping politics or legislative ideas that I don’t agree with fundamentally. So it was a compliment, but never tempted.”

Tyrrell said on Thursday she wanted to run for Labor at the next election. She will be up for re-election in 2028.

Labor since the election has picked up a another defector from the crossbench -Greens Senator Dorinda Cox in June 2025.