Nationals hopeful takes on big guns with a crack at PM

A high-profile female candidate entering the Nationals preselection battle for the coveted No 2 NSW Senate spot says ‘people were shocked’ at Scott Morrison’s lack of empathy.

Alison Penfold has entered what will be a fierce preselection battle within the Nationals for the second spot on the Coalition’s NSW Senate ticket. Picture: Gary Ramage

A high-profile female candidate entering the Nationals preselection battle for the coveted No 2 NSW Senate spot says “people were shocked” at Scott Morrison’s lack of empathy after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she had been raped in ­Parliament House.

Alison Penfold, a rural industry leader and former senior political staffer, will compete against former Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash, who confirmed her candidacy at the weekend, and former deputy prime minister John Anderson to win the Senate position. Former NSW Nationals director Ross Cadell is also preparing for a tilt.

As the Morrison government comes under increasing pressure over rape allegations, sex scandals and the treatment of women, Ms Penfold said empathy was a learned skill and something she wanted to bring to Canberra.

John Anderson. Picture: Antony Hands

“People were shocked at the lack of empathy the Prime Minister showed but empathy isn’t an innate skill ... It (the lack of empathy) was really acute around Brittany Higgins,” she told The Australian. “It’s that finetuning of that level of empathy and connection to people that I want to bring to this place.”

Ms Penfold did not have a position on whether the Nationals should adopt quotas to boost ­female representation but “I am interested in the debate and ­listening to the views being ­expressed”.

With support from former deputy prime ministers Warren Truss and Mark Vaile, Ms Penfold will run for election after having worked as Agriculture Minister David Littleproud’s chief of staff and heading the Australian Livestock Exporters Council after trade was suspended following graphic animal cruelty footage airing on the ABC’s Four Corners.

Ms Penfold, who began her political career as a receptionist for former Liberal minister Peter Reith in 1996, will participate in Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’s review into federal parliament’s workplace culture but says she personally had never her ambitions frustrated in Canberra or by being a woman in the Nationals.

Fiona Nash. Picture: Dylan Robinson

She did say she was sexually harassed while working in the Northern Territory parliament. “I didn’t feel like it was treated or handled with the respect it deserved and it left a mark on me.

“Me standing is saying ‘We need to listen and validate how people are feeling’. There’s a lot of pain and shame. I’ve had male colleagues who work (at Parliament House) talk to me about the shame they’re feeling and there’s a lot of women feeling the pain and the shame as well.

“There was a lot of symbolism around the Prime Minister (and what it would have meant) if he had gone out to speak at the (March4Justice) rally.

“What would it have looked like if this entire parliament had gone out? That would’ve been an incredibly powerful statement and not to speak, but to listen.”

Supportive herself of nuclear and hydrogen, Ms Penfold acknowledged that the agriculture sector wanted to move towards a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 and the Nationals must be responsive.

“If we’ve got on one side of the spectrum people wanting to lean into that adaptation strategy, we’ve got on the other end people very concerned about the consequences of the transition,” she said.

“Should coal be part of the transition? Yes but it has to be clean coal. That is very much a challenge.”

Penfold on how to change federal parliament’s culture:

It’s got to start at an individual level, how we all behave. When I left this place and I went into the corporate world, all of the professional development opportunity you have around leadership and dealing with adversity and challenges, we didn’t have as a staffer and still don’t have and politicians absolutely don’t have any of that.

If we want to talk about how do we support that mindset shift, it needs to be around that developing leadership capacity.

Penfold on her prospects of winning preselection:

It’s an incredible field and a real sign that the Nats are a party to be reckoned with and they can attract strong candidates. I’m honoured to be in a field with the likes of John Anderson and Fiona Nash and others but I do bring a unique perspective.

I’ve worked within the party system, I’ve been a state director, I’ve been a staffer. I’ve worked out in the private sector both in terms of running an NGO and working within a corporate, being Woolworths. That is not a set of skills and background that others have.

Penfold on some of what matters to her:

I want to make sure as a government we’re actually dealing with wicked problems and not just kicking them down the road. Things like the digital divide, indigenous empowerment, data and privacy, land use conflicts, deep polarisation of the energy debate, aged care and retirement needs of regional Australians and obesity as a health crisis.