Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Senator Sam McMahon has revealed the level of bullying within the CLP that led to her quitting the party

Transcript

Senator Sam McMahon has revealed the level of bullying within the CLP that led to her quitting the party · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that Senator Sam McMahon has told Federal Parliament
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: that the reason behind her quitting the CLP in January, well,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: she said that she's unveiled that reason or given that reason.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Now the Senator used that speech yesterday to name a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: man under parliamentary privilege and accused him of abusive and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: terrorizing behavior. And we know that we do know that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Senator McMahon missed out on pre selection for her seat
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: at the federal election, but she says it was the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: behavior of her colleague, not losing pre selection to just
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: enterprise behind her leaving the Country Liberal Party, and the
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Senator Sam McMahon joins me on the line right now.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, senator.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: How are you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I'm very well, Thank you now, Senator, how are you feeling?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: How were you feeling? I guess yesterday going into Parliament
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: ready for that speech.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Ah, lots of mixed emotions, you know, obviously disappointment that
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I'll be leaving, Feeling things that whilst I achieved a lot,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: there's still a lot more that I would have liked
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to achieve, you know, but also feeling grateful for the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: time that I have had here and the opportunity to
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: get things for the territory.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Was it hard then doing that speech in Parliament yesterday?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I know that you revealed a lot. Was it a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: difficult thing to do? Oh?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Hell, hell yeah, Katie, it was. It was. It was
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: a really difficult thing to do. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I want to ask, you know, how are you reflecting
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: on your time as a senator at the at that
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: federal level now since you know, since delivering that speech yesterday.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I'm very much trying to to reflect on
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the positives and trying to, you know, to talk with
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: my colleagues and others about the positive things that I've
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: managed to achieve and the things that have been positive
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: for me. You know, there's you know, there's well publicized negatives,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: but I'm trying not to reflect on those.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I know that you did say that your reason to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: resign was driven by a former staff member who terrorized
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you in your office and your office, So you, as
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: well as from what I can gather other people, how
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: did that play on you over the last couple of years.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, very very heavily, very very heavily. It's it's obviously
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: a very difficult and stressful situation. I thought that I
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: had put it all behind me, moved on, you know,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: picked myself up and carried on and regrouped. I thought
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I had done that, and then you know, as I've said,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the COLP chose to you know, effectively have that person
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: staring me down in a room, and they thought that
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: that was perfectly okay. So that you know, rekindled all
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: the negatives and you know, brought back all that that
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: that stress and anxiety.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Sam, there's been a lot of talk around women in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: politics of late, particularly after the passing of Senator Kimberly
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Kitchen and allegations of that mean girl atmosphere within the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Labor Party. How do you view the position of women
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: in politics based on your own personal experience.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Katie, it's still it's still a tough gig.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: It really really is tough. Still. You know, there are
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: these incidents of bullying, harassment, aggression. They do certainly seem
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: to be targeted more at women. And it's not you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I did say this in my speech yesterday, it's not
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: it's not it's not a male problem because you know
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: a lot of these recent incidents seem to have been
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: female on female. So we're doing it for uself.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's buddy, disappointing, you know, and you just think,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know understand how we can't all respect each
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: other a little bit more. And you know, even watching
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Parliament here in the Northern Territory yesterday, some of the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: behavior and that's sort of in the chamber as well.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: But then you think behind the scenes, I just wonder
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: what goes on sometimes.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's right, and it is disappointing, and I
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: think we need to we really need to move beyond
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: that from a personal level. You know, I get the
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: RGI bargie in the chamber and in the media and
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you know, talking down your opposition and all that sort
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: of thing that I get, but that really needs to
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: be divorced from the behavior that we see behind the scenes.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: And that's often effectively, you know, a blue on blue situation,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you know, so so often it's coming from what is
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: supposed to be your own team.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Sam, how are your relationships with the Liberal National Party?
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, look good. I'm still a lot of people
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: think that I've become independent or sitting on the cross bench.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not. I'm still a part of the National Party.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: I still sit with the National Party. I still sit
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: in their party room and I still sit with them
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: in the Senate, So yeah, look, my relationships with them
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: are good.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I know that Concetta Ferraventi Wells has come out in
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: recent days to say Scott Morrison's not fit to be
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister, stemming from frustrations over the process for
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: pre selection for key seats. How do you think it
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: affects the party coming into an election.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Look, I mean, you know, I'm sorry that Connie feels
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: that way. She's a colleague of mine. I'm sorry that
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: that's been her experience. It's not been my experience. And
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: you know, I honestly I don't I think the public
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: are going to be more focused on, you know, their
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: financial situation, the situation with COVID, the management of the government,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: the management of the economy. I think they're going to
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: be more focused on that, and I really don't see
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: this as being a very big distraction.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Sam. What are you most proud of from your time
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: as a Senator?
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: A couple of things, Katie. I'm probably I'm probably very
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: proud of having retained our two lower House seats for
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: the Northern territory. That was a hell of a battle,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and I'm very proud of being You know that voters
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: are going to go to this election having two seats
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Lingiari and Solomon to vote on. They would have if
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I'd not taken the steps I took, they would have
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: hardly had one. So I'm very proud of achieving that.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I'm very proud of the work that I've done for
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory agricultural industries, cattle industry, live export, and mango.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of the work that I was able to
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: do there. That's a hell of a lot of money
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: into the anti economy that wouldn't otherwise have happened.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: What's next for you?
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Katie, you know that's the question everyone's asking.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I honestly haven't made a decision on what I'm doing
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: in the future. I'm in a very fortunate position. I'm
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a veterinary surgeon. I still have my veterinary practices, so
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: I can step back into that tomorrow. But I'm just
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: keeping my options open. I may have a short break.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: I haven't really had much of a break in three years,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: so I might just have a bit of a short
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: break to reflect on sort of the last three years
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: and make some measured decisions on my future.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Senator, I don't really want to finish on a negative,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: but I don't. I feel like I can't let you
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: go without asking you. Do you feel as though the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: COLP has made any changes or the changes required to
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: make everybody within the party feel safe, look.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Katie, Disappointingly, No, no, I don't. I mean, I've resigned
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: from the party, so I don't know what they've done,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: you know, in the last six weeks. But but no,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I don't feel that they have. And I mean, given
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: the fact that we've seen in the last six weeks
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: a couple of high, high level resignations from within the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: CLP management, I don't feel that that things have progressed
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: the way they should have.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Senator Sam McMahon, I really appreciate all the time that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: you've given us while you have been the Senator. I
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: wish you all the very best, and I've no doubt
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: that I will. I'll talk to you again soon.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no worries. Thanks, Thanks, thank you,