Liberal Party vice-president Teena McQueen’s controversial comments

Liberal Teena McQueen’s Q&A performance is sending shockwaves around the party. “Gobsmacked” is how one Liberal described it.

Teena McQueen, the Liberal Party vice-president whose performance on Q&A last night was described as a “embarrassing”, has a history of controversial comments.

She has been branded as “loquacious” and said “women always want the spoils of victory without the fight”.

Little known until 9.30pm yesterday, Ms McQueen has suddenly sprung to the public’s attention following her performance on the ABC’S Q&A.

On the political panel show, Ms McQueen said Milo Yiannopoulos was “an entertainer” but Greens leader Richard Di Natale was guilty of “hate speech”.

She also took a swipe at New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, claiming she was “copying” the Liberal Party.

One Liberal member who spoke to news.com.au said he was “gobsmacked” by her appearance, and if that was the calibre of the party executive, “we don’t deserve to be in charge”.

Teena McQueen (left) on Q&A. Author Roxane Gay (centre) was not impressed.

Senior Liberals have questioned Ms McQueen’s judgment and have urged her to choose between her TV commentating and party roles.

Ms McQueen has been a member of the Liberal Party for 30 years and is considered a conservative and an ardent backer of former PM Tony Abbott.

At one point she was the Australian representative of the Miss Universe pageant where she got to rub shoulders with model Erin McNaught and US president-to-be Donald Trump.

She ascended the Liberal hierarchy in mid-2018 when her side managed to oust a number of moderates from key positions.

According to the The Australian, Ms McQueen’s predecessor had criticised Mr Abbott and there was a mood from rank and file members that such behaviour could not go “unanswered”. Ms McQueen won by just four votes.

But criticism of another PM was fine, it seemed. Andrew Bolt, a commentator for News Corp Australia that owns news.com.au, wrote in late 2018 that Ms McQueen had said several Liberal branches were calling for Malcolm Turnbull to be thrown out of the party.

“It is clear that a number of branches can no longer tolerate the damage Mr Turnbull is causing Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the party,” he reported her as saying.

Bolt has had Ms McQueen on his Sky News show several times. One appearance was in late 2018 when the Liberal party was blowing up over allegations of a culture of bullying against women.

Ms McQueen wasn’t impressed by the claims.

“I would say put up or shut up. Women always want the spoils of victory without the fight,” she told Bolt.

“You have to fight for your principles; you have to fight for your spot; it’s a fight so you must have that DNA within you to be in politics.”

Also on Bolt, she hit out at suggestions the party should have some preselections only open to women. She said the debate was “driving me insane” and media coverage of it was “frustrating”.

While her approach has won fans on the hard right and Mr Abbott’s wing of the party, others haven’t been as impressed.

Another News Corp columnist Miranda Divine said Ms McQueen talked far too much.

In an article last month, Devine reported how Ms McQueen had intervened in a stoush about an internal Young Liberal high achievement award.

The columnist said Ms McQueen had written an email that said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian had called the eventual winner “immature” and “his antics certainly do not display the character required to be an outstanding Young Liberal”.

Devine was furious: “What a shocking thing for a senior party office holder to put in writing about a kid starting out in his career.”

She added that the award winner “seems far more mature than loquacious McQueen, a self-described DelCon (delusional conservative).”

She continued that Ms Berejiklian was “not happy” about her name being bandied about.

#auspol @LiberalAus going the full "Mariah Carey" over #TeenaMcQueen pic.twitter.com/lfXhC09Ssy

— Cameron Davidson (@Ruleslawyer01) March 25, 2019

OMG. It’s time to jettison Teena McQueen from the #qanda panel. In response to a question about the inspiring leadership of Jacinda Ardern after Christchurch, she sees fit to question her legitimacy as PM. What an embarrassment to the Liberal Party and Australia. pic.twitter.com/dxQI3pjGny

— David Lewis 🌈 (@dlewis89) March 25, 2019

In Teena McQueen’s upside down universe, Richard Di Natale incites violence against Andrew Bolt through hate speech and Milo Yiannopoulos is ”an entertainer”. Give me strength! #qanda pic.twitter.com/a80TbaL1CH

— David Lewis 🌈 (@dlewis89) March 25, 2019

The Liberal Party crossing the border from #NSWvotes to #AusVotes while being driven by @LiberalAus Vice President #TeenaMcQueen. #QandA pic.twitter.com/N7TCDOV0Qu

— 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕫𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕕 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍🌈 (@correzpond) March 26, 2019

On Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald said senior party members had asked Ms McQueen to stop appearing on Sky’s opinion-led programs, but she had refused. Senator Simon Birmingham reportedly asked her to choose between media appearances and her official duties as a staff member within the party.

The SMH quoted Mary-Lou Jarvis, president of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council, who said she thought it unlikely Ms McQueen had been authorised to speak on behalf of the Liberal Party.

“She was certainly not speaking on my behalf nor many other Liberals based on the complaints I received as the program progressed,” she said.

‘EMBARRASSED’

A Liberal Party member of 35 years told news.com.au he was appalled by Ms McQueen’s appearance.

“I’ve seen good times and bad times but very rarely have I been embarrassed by a party official … until last night.

“Who in their right mind let Teena McQueen in front of a microphone? I am gobsmacked by her performance.

“I have grave fears about what the ALP will do to our economy but, honestly, with people like McQueen holding senior positions, we don’t deserve to be in charge.”

McQueen praised Milo Yiannopoulos but criticised Greens leader Richard Di Natale. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch.

Ms McQueen began Q&A defending Mr Trump, who she met at Miss Universe pageants, and his infamous “grab her by the p***y remarks.

“I just made a joke about a c**k earlier on,” she said. “I don’t think there’s much difference there.”

Author and fellow panellist Roxane Gay begged to differ: “A joke versus grabbing a woman (and) talking about sexual assault are two very different things.”

When asked about the gun-law crackdown by the New Zealand PM, Ms McQueen retorted: “The Liberal Party did that years ago with John Howard.”

When some audience members laughed, Ms McQueen shot back at them: “You think that’s funny? John Howard did do that. Jacinda Ardern is copying exactly.”

She later defended political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos who was this month banned from Australia because of hateful comments.

“I class him as an entertainer. No one could possibly take Milo seriously,” she said.

Ms Gay said “hundreds of thousands of people in the United States take Milo seriously. They follow him. They pay money to go see him speak.”

In contrast, Ms McQueen said the “worst hate speech I’ve heard recently is (from Greens leader) Richard Di Natale”.

She suggested Mr Di Natale had engaged in hate speech and “incited violence” against Bolt.

“The vile language used against conservatives is disgraceful,” she began before Labor MP Tony Burke interjected.

“I am going to defend Richard Di Natale. To imply that somebody who is standing up against racism is guilty of the same sort of hate speech as the people who have allowed the hatred that we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks to fester and to have a base and be legitimised by so many people — it just doesn’t add up,” he said.

Her appearance didn’t go down well on social media. SBS presenter Marc Fennell dismissed her as a “a parody account”.