Jennifer Houston, who won her seat in Bass, will join incumbent Labor member Michelle O’Byrne and the three incumbent Liberal members Peter Gutwein, Michael Ferguson and Sarah Courtney.

Jen Butler, who has followed her mother’s footsteps into the electorate of Lyons, will join Labor Leader Rebecca White and Liberal members Rene Hidding, Guy Barnett and Mark Shelton.

A former community services sector chief executive, Ms Houston described her campaign as “very grassroots, nothing shiny or flashy.”

“To me, politicians helped people,” she said.

Ms Houston is a single mum to six children and has seven grandchildren.

She said her interest in politics started early.

“I felt there was such a gap between academics and the community.  I really need to understand what people are going through,” she said.

While she said she was a little nervous about starting her career in politics she “doesn’t mind a challenge.”

Jennifer Houston has worked as a meat worker, a cleaner, a cook, a shop assistant, a manager, a university lecturer and the general manager and acting chief executive of the Migrant Resource Centre.

She was a single mum when she began her university degree and has studied social sciences.

Mrs Houston has six children and seven grandchildren.

 She currently holds the position of community development project officer at Anglicare.

Voters in Lyons will be served by a second generation of the Butler family in what is believed to be a first for Tasmanian politics.

Jen Butler was elected as the new Labor MP for Lyons at the recent state election and will follow her mother’s footsteps in serving that electorate. Heather Butler was a Labor Lyons MP from 2005 until 2010.

“I grew up with branch meetings around the dining room table,” she said.

“I was asked at the age of nine what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said politician,” she said.

Mrs Butler said she was proud of her daughter’s achievement, to be able to serve the same electorate and same party that she did.

“It’s definitely exciting, to see her achievement,” she said.

Ms Butler said she was looking forward to getting down to business.

Jen Butler is a political and community activist. Ms Butler’s family are from St Helens on the East Coast.

She is a mother of three and comes from a close knit family. Ms Butler is the daughter of Heather Butler AM, a former MP.

Ms Butler has organised and ran successful campaigns against family violence, launching the White Ribbon group in Tasmania.

Recently, Ms Butler stopped the stealth closure of online access centres throughout rural and remote Tasmania.