Background
Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11.
Jensen was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Ballarat, leaving school at 11.
He became a rabbit-hawker and miner at Beaconsfield, Tasmania. He remarried Bertha Hopton in August 1896 and became a successful publican. 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.
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.
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, David Jackson. 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.
Along with the other members of National Labor, Jensen joined the Commonwealth Liberal Party in forming the Nationalist Party of Australia.
