Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells accuses Liberals of own ‘mean girls’ culture

An ousted NSW senator has claimed the “mean girls” of parliament were not just confined to the Labor Party.

Tearfully recounting her experience as a victim of Liberal Party factional warfare, ousted NSW senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has warned the “mean girls” of parliament were not just confined to the Labor Party.

Ms Fierravanti-Wells has compared her own political stress to that of the late Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching and saying “mean girls” were not limited to the Labor Party.

Ms Fierravanti-Wells was this week placed in an unwinnable position on the Liberal Party’s NSW Senate ticket.

During a Senate condolence motion for Ms Kitching, the Liberal senator said she believed women were hesitant to talk about internal political issues.

“The concept of mean girls is not confined to one political party,” she said. Ms Fierravanti-Wells said she and Ms Kitching were targeted by their own sides “because we were outspoken … and not constrained by groupthink within our … parties.”

Former senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, pictured in the senate chamber in 2018, has recounted her experience as a victim of Liberal Party factional warfare. Picture Gary Ramage

Ms Fierravanti-Wells said she had “no doubts” the pressure Ms Kitching was under as she fought her own factional battles had contributed to her sudden death this month.

“Your death put much into context for me, it made me realise that all the stress associated with factional warfare is not worth the toll that it takes on health and family,” she said.

Addressing Ms Kitching’s husband Andrew Landeryou, who was at parliament for the tributes, she said it would have been hard for him to watch the effect of factional infighting on his wife. “I know how hard it had been for my own husband, John, himself a cancer survivor, who has stood by me through all the slings and arrows of internecine factional and international skulduggery,” she said.

Since Ms Kitching’s deaths her friends and allies have alleged she was a victim of bullying within the Labor Party.

It was revealed she referred to Labor senators Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Kristina Keneally as the “mean girls” of the senate due to their alleged bullying, an accusation the trio have denied.