Jens August Jensen (2 May 1865 – 16 November 1936) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1910 to 1919. He was a minister in the governments of Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes, serving as Minister for the Navy from 1915 to 1917 and Minister for Trade and Customs from 1917 to 1918.
Early life
Jensen was born on 2 May 1865 in Sebastopol, Victoria, on the outskirts of Ballarat. He was the third son of Anna Marie Christine () and Anthon Jensen, Danish immigrants who had immigrated to Australia during the Victorian gold rush.
Jensen attended state schools until the age of 11, when he began working as a stable boy. He moved to Beaconsfield, Tasmania, in 1878 and worked as a rabbit hawker and miner; he eventually gained his engine driver's certificate. In 1885, Jensen married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst. The couple had one son and four daughters before her death in 1894. He remarried in 1896 to Bertha Hopton, with whom he had another son and daughter. Also in 1896, Jensen built a hotel and theatre in Beaconsfield. He later opened a larger establishment at Beauty Point, and bought an orchard nearby. He was elected to the Beaconsfield Town Council in 1899.
Political career
thumb|left|upright|Jens Jensen (undated photo)
State politics
Jensen was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the 1903 state election, winning the seat of George Town. He was a member of the Launceston branch of the Reform League, one of Tasmania's earliest formal political organisations. In parliament he supported the faction of liberal democrats associated with William Propsting, who formed a government after the election. He was re-elected in George Town as an endorsed Labor candidate at the 1906 state election, before transferring to the new multi-member seat of Wilmot at the 1909 election.
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.
In their suit, Jensen's children alleged that he had fathered a daughter out of wedlock with Gilbert, and that he had attempted to arrange a marriage between this daughter and one of his legitimate sons, who were half-siblings. They further alleged that Jensen had given Gilbert almost all of his property and wealth prior to his death, including a block of flats at Beauty Point, an estate in northern Tasmania, and valuable shareholdings. Jensen's widow Bertha was called as a witness and stated that her husband had physically abused their children, including with a horsewhip, as well as alleging that Gilbert had tried to poison him.
The presiding judge Charles Duffy ultimately granted probate and removed the caveat, finding that the claim of undue influence had not been made out although he accepted the evidence of Jensen's widow and children as to his character and personal life.