Premier blasted for ‘appalling’ Tatt’s Club attack

A former senator has taken up the fight for male-only membership at Brisbane’s Tattersall’s Club by claiming men-only clubs are a “life and death issue’’.

Bill O'Chee says the Tattersall’s club must remain exclusive to men.

FORMER senator Bill O’Chee has come out with all guns blazing two decades after leaving federal politics, taking up the fight for male-only membership at Brisbane’s Tattersall’s Club by claiming men-only clubs are a “life and death issue’’.

Mr O’Chee has also accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of “appalling” behaviour for criticising the club’s men-only rule last Monday — International Men’s Day.

Mr O’Chee, who became the face of political largesse when he left the Senate aged 34 in 1999 under an extraordinarily generous superannuation regime, defended scooping about a million dollars of taxpayers’ money since then by comparing himself to Diggers.

Former senator Bill O'Chee represented Australia in the luge.

“I have got lots of mates in the army who are on exactly the same plan,’’ he said.

As the club’s 4800 members prepare to vote on whether to allow women to become full-time members in coming weeks, Mr O’Chee said men were suffering from extremely high rates of suicide compared to women, while often dealing with serious health and financial issues following divorce.

“These are becoming life and death issues,’’ he said. “Yet men are attacked on International Men’s Day for having a men-only club. Now, that is just appalling.

“I think those who come out and seek for male clubs to open their doors to women while not arguing that women’s clubs also open their doors to men are guilty of rank hypocrisy.’’

Mr O’Chee, who once represented Australia in the sport of skeleton, said he supported women’s clubs but men, especially vulnerable divorced men, did not have the same access to male-only spaces.

He said Tatt’s was a long way from being “exclusive’’ and was an environment that was “friendly” and welcoming of women as both guests and associate members.

Working for the RSL and last year helping a team find 98 homeless veterans a place to live, Mr O’Chee defended his superannuated life after federal politics.

The now 53-year-old left Parliament as a National Party senator in 1999 on an indexed lifetime pension of about $45,000 a year.

At current inflation levels, he would have received more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded superannuation since then.

But he said his entitlements were the same as thousands of other people who had defined benefits as public servants in the 20th century.