Independent Senator Sam McMahon ‘did not feel safe’ at CLP party meetings

Senator Sam McMahon has revealed her feeling unsafe at party council meetings helped convince her to leave the CLP, raising concerns about attitudes toward women across politics.

SENATOR Sam McMahon has revealed she felt unsafe at major CLP party meetings, reigniting concerns around whether politics is providing a safe environment for women.

Senator McMahon sensationally quit the CLP on Friday, sparking concerns the party may be deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission for having fewer than 1500 members and no sitting parliamentarians.

She revealed on Tuesday she had felt unsafe at CLP central council meetings, which are held four times a year. She wrote to CLP president Jamie De Brenni regarding the situation in November, but said she hadn’t received a response.

“The correspondence and the complaints I consider are between myself and the CLP,” Senator McMahon said.

“I’m not going into detail what those issues are. As I said, I have concerns for my workplace safety.”

Senator Sam McMahon said she wouldn’t rule out running in the looming federal election. Photograph: Che Chorley

Senator McMahon said she would consider any offers to run again, but that it was “highly unlikely” she would contest the next election. She will sit the rest of her term as an independent, associated with the Nationals.

The revelations come after the Jenkin’s Report into bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault at Parliament House in Canberra was published in November last year.

Senator McMahon said she believed “all political parties should probably have a really good look at the report”, but said she had not perceived the CLP as having a “women problem”.

When contacted for comment, Mr De Brenni said “the CLP has a grievance policy and we are following that process and procedure.”

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. Picture: Floss Adams.

There are concerns the CLP may be unable to contest the next federal election, given it has no sitting parliamentarians in Canberra and is understood to have fewer than 1500 members. Being deregistered would not impact the CLP’s Opposition status in the Northern Territory.

Reacting to Senator McMahon’s revelations, Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy acknowledged “no party is immune” to sexism and misogyny.

Senator McCarthy said she understood Senator McMahon’s issues were “very personal matters” but expressed concerns about the CLP having a problem with women.

“There was a very real issue in relation to her being a female and feeling safe,” she said.

Senator McMahon ‘did not feel safe’ at CLP party meetings

FEDERAL Senator Sam McMahon has claimed she “did not feel safe” attending central council meetings in the Country Liberal Party.

Senator McMahon sensationally quit the CLP on Friday, months after she was dumped at preselection from the top of the senate ticket in the looming federal election.

Senator McMahon has taken to the airwaves, speaking to both ABC Radio and Katie Woolf on Mix 104.9 on Tuesday morning.

She said she did not feel physically safe attending central council meetings.

“It was an issue of not feeling safe, and y’know, people need to understand that as a politician, part of my workplace is party meetings,” she said.

“I’m required to attend to them, and no, I did not feel safe in the CLP central council.

“It runs in a small sort of closed space, and if you’re not feeling safe and secure in that environment, it makes it very, very hard to do your job,” she said.

Senator McMahon said she put her concerns directly to CLP President Jamie De Brenni, who she described as a “great guy”.

She said Mr De Brenni asked her to put her concerns into writing, which she did, and has not since heard a response.

Central council meetings are convened to discuss party issues four times a year.

Confusion reigns over McMahon’s independent status

CONFUSION swirls around the independent status of newly independent Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon.

On Friday Senator McMahon’s office announced she would quit the Country Liberal Party immediately, then on Sunday the party issued a statement saying they would not act on the resignation until the end of the month.

And on Monday, the NT government released a media alert for a water security announcement at which Ms McMahon would represent the Federal Coalition.

CLP president Jamie De Brenni, under whose direction the party has lost federal representation for the first time in its 50-year history as well as the Daly electorate in a by-election, fuelled the confusion on Sunday when he released a statement claiming the party was ignoring Ms McMahon’s resignation.

‘The Country Liberal Party would like to confirm that we have received a letter of resignation from Senator McMahon,” his statement said.

“The Senator has been advised that her correspondence will be referred to at the next (CLP) Central Council meeting to be held on the 26 February 2022 for consideration.”

Ms McMahon has signalled she will remain a member of the Federal Coalition while no longer sitting with the CLP, the party which preselected her in 2019 and then disendorsed her ahead of this year’s federal election in favour of former Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Price.

Ms McMahon issued a statement on Monday claiming she had “lost confidence” in the CLP. She replaced long-serving CLP Senator Nigel Scullion in 2019 after a tight preselection battle. The party preferred Ms Price over the incumbent when preselection was reopened last year.

Media reported the week before the vote that Ms McMahon had been under the influence of alcohol while in the Senate Chamber.

CLP ‘within our rights’ to run under party banner despite losing seat: President

COUNTRY Liberal Party president Jamie de Brenni is confident the CLP will be legally allowed to run under its own name in the next election, despite losing it’s only federal seat.

Speaking on ABC radio on Monday morning, Mr de Brenni said the defection of Senator Sam McMahon would not cause the party to fall foul of laws requiring parties without an incumbent to have a certain number of members.

The CLP says the defection of Senator Sam McMahon would not cause the party to fall foul of laws requiring parties without an incumbent to have a certain number of members. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford.

“Under our constitution we have an affiliation act that links with the National Party’s affiliations association act that’s been in place since 1979,” he said.

Mr de Brenni said the party’s legal advice was that the arrangement meant it was “well within our rights” to field candidates under the CLP banner.

But he said Ms McMahon’s defection meant she would now have the resources to take on her former party on the hustings backed by the trappings of office.

“This is part of being incumbent, we have a battle now, we’re fighting four incumbents that have got taxpayer funded campaign ability that they can use,” he said.

“We’ll be sitting there with our loyal supporters, calling on Territorians to financially support us and guarantee that their money will be used to promote the best candidate possible we can put up — and I think we’ve done a bloody good job.”