Outspoken, unexpected and refreshingly honest – this is the vivid description of (for now) former Tasmania Senator Jacqui Lambie.

Jacqui Lambie has, from the outset, stood out from the mainstream of Australian politicians. During her time in Parliament she was the most authentic, heartfelt and unscripted voice in the Senate.

She has been a tireless and highly effective campaigner for the things she passionately believes in, such as a better deal for our military veterans and a better system of care for those afflicted by the scourge of ice addiction. These are real issues for her, things she has lived through and not just hot button issues raised by focus groups.

For anyone who knows Jacqui, her late 2017 resignation from the Senate due to the forgotten impact of her Dad being born in Scotland is just an interruption in her unique career, representing Australians who've previously had little access to the corridors of power: veterans, single mums, welfare recipients and families of ice addicts.

Turning to being an author, Jacqui’s acclaimed 2018 autobiography Rebel with a Cause is not a political book. In fact, politics barely gets a mention until the final chapters. It's the story of her life as an ordinary working class girl from Tasmania, and her journey through the army, her enforced medical retirement after 10 years following back injury, medical discharge, her fight to get adequate treatment and compensation from the DVA, battles with addiction and depression, and her struggles to raise two kids as a single mother.

Most recently Jacqui has stunned Australians by heading off to the Syrian civil war with SBS for Go Back Live, complete with Flak jacket and helmet in searing heat, facing down ISIS on the battlefield. That’s gutsy.

It's safe to say that there's never, ever, been a politician like Jacqui in Australia.