Jens Jensen (politician)

The Honourable Jens Jensen
Member of the Australian Parliament for Bass
In office 13 April 1910 – 13 December 1919
Preceded by	David Storrer
Succeeded by	Syd Jackson
Personal details
Born	(1865-05-02)2 May 1865 Ballarat, Victoria
Died	16 November 1936(1936-11-16) (aged 71) South Caulfield, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Labor (1903–17, 1927-34) National Labor (1917) Nationalist (1917–19) Independent (1919-27)
Spouse(s)	1) Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst 2) Bertha Hopton
Occupation	Publican

Jens August Jensen (2 May 1865 – 16 November 1936) was an Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.

Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11. He became a rabbit-hawker and miner at Beaconsfield, Tasmania. In July 1885 he married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst; she died in 1894 leaving him with a son and four daughters. He remarried Bertha Hopton in August 1896 and became a successful publican.^[1]

Political career

In 1903 Jensen was elected as the member for George Town in the Tasmanian House of Assembly as an independent and was re-elected as a Labor candidate for George Town in 1906 and Wilmot 1909 and was Chief Secretary in a Labor government for eight days in October 1909.^[2]

In February 1910 he resigned from the House of Assembly and won the seat of Bass in the House of Representatives at the April 1910 election. He served as an Assistant Minister and then in July 1915 he became the first Minister for the Navy in the Fisher and Hughes governments. When a group of pro-conscription ALP members under Billy Hughes broke away in the 1916 Labor split to form the National Labor Party, Jensen joined them. Hughes retained government after the split, and Jensen was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs. Along with the other members of National Labor, Jensen joined the Commonwealth Liberal Party in forming the Nationalist Party of Australia. In 1918, Jensen was investigated by the Royal Commission on Navy and Defence Administration. When the Commission found against him, he was forced to resign from the ministry. He subsequently lost his endorsement to contest his seat at the 1919 election. Though he attempted to contest the seat as an independent, he was defeated by the endorsed Nationalist candidate, Syd Jackson.^[1]

Jensen subsequently shifted to state politics, elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Bass in 1922. After losing his seat in 1925, he rejoined the ALP in 1927, and was elected for Wilmot, holding it until 1934.^[1][2]

Jensen at times treated his wife violently and for the last 37 years of his life kept his cousin, Maggie Jane Gilbert as his mistress and gave her almost all of his wealth. He died of a stroke in the Melbourne suburb of South Caulfield, Victoria, survived by his wife and their son and daughter. He left no money to them or the children of his first marriage.^[1]

References