Dennis Geoffrey Jensen (born 28 February 1962) is an Australian former politician. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

at the 2004 federal election, winning the Division of Tangney for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Jensen lost Liberal

preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

for the 2016 federal election, and subsequently resigned from the party to stand as an independent.Dennis Jensen, West Australian MP, blames 'dirty tricks' after being dumped by Liberal preselectors: ABC 3 April 2016
/ref> In August 2017 he joined the fledgling

Australian Conservatives Australian Conservatives was a conservative political party in Australia formed in 2017. It was led by Cory Bernardi, who had been elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party, but resigned citing disagreements with the Liberal/National Coa ...

party. Jensen has a PhD in

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

from

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, and before entering politics worked as a

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

researcher. He is known for questioning the anthropogenic causation of climate change.

Early life

Jensen was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, emigrated to Australia with parents and siblings in 1982. He was educated at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

, the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

and

, from where he has a PhD in materials science. He worked at the

as a research scientist and for the Department of Defence as a defence analyst before entering politics.

Politics

Jensen was the Liberal candidate for the

Division of Corio The Division of Corio () is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the states and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was ...

, Victoria at the 1998 election. In 2006, Jensen lost his

for Tangney for the 2007 federal election, but won it back with the support of the state executive and prime minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

. He lost preselection again for the 2010 election, but once again the state executive intervened and restored him as Liberal candidate. Jensen rejects the scientific consensus on human-induced global warming and, on behalf of the Lavoisier Group, organised the release of a book entitled ''Nine Facts About Climate Change'' by former mining CEO

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...

. In February 2007 during a Parliamentary sitting, Jensen quoted the then

IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...

vice chairman Yuri Izrael, who had stated that "there is no proven link between human activity and global warming". His reputation as a limate scepticbecame national when he and four government colleagues disagreed with others of their party in a dissenting

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

report regarding climate change. Jensen boycotted Parliament on the day that the formal apology to the

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

s was made by Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

. He further courted controversy by telling Australian Indigenous people claiming to be affected by European colonisation over 200 years ago to "get over it." He was one of six Liberal MPs (including fellow West Australian MPs

Wilson Tuckey Charles Wilson Tuckey (born 10 July 1935) is an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2010, representing the seat of O'Connor in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. He was a minister in the H ...

, Luke Simpkins and the late Don Randall as well as

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party from 2 ...

Sophie Mirabella Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the Fair Work Commission since 24 May 2021. She was previously a Liberal Party member of the Austra ...

and the late Alby Schultz) to leave the house (or boycott entirely) in protest to the apology to the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...

. He is opposed to

same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. Legislation permitting same-sex marriage, the '' Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', became law on 8 December 2017 and came into effect the nex ...

Lost Liberal pre-selection

Jensen lost Liberal preselection in Tangney for the 2016 federal election. It was revealed he had written a technothriller, falsely portrayed as a work of erotic fiction, named "The Skywarriors" in which

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

invades Australia. Former party state director Ben Morton won preselection. Jensen sued the Australian newspaper and Andrew Burrell, the journalist, for defamation. He won the case, and was paid a total of $1.1 million, including costs. In August 2017, Jensen sent an email to former Liberal colleagues, saying he had joined the

party started by

Cory Bernardi Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party h ...

, and urging them to follow him.

Bibliography

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Dennis 1962 births Air traffic controllers Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Tangney Monash University alumni Politicians from Johannesburg RMIT University alumni South African emigrants to Australia People who lost South African citizenship Naturalised citizens of Australia University of Melbourne alumni Australian Conservatives members Australian MPs 2004–2007 Australian MPs 2007–2010 Australian MPs 2010–2013 Australian MPs 2013–2016