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Speaker 1: We know that Senator Sam McMahon has told Federal Parliament

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Speaker 1: that the reason behind her quitting the CLP in January, well,

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Speaker 1: she said that she's unveiled that reason or given that reason.

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Speaker 1: Now the Senator used that speech yesterday to name a

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Speaker 1: man under parliamentary privilege and accused him of abusive and

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Speaker 1: terrorizing behavior. And we know that we do know that

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Speaker 1: Senator McMahon missed out on pre selection for her seat

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Speaker 1: at the federal election, but she says it was the

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Speaker 1: behavior of her colleague, not losing pre selection to just

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Speaker 1: enterprise behind her leaving the Country Liberal Party, and the

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Speaker 1: Senator Sam McMahon joins me on the line right now.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, senator.

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Speaker 2: How are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, Thank you now, Senator, how are you feeling?

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Speaker 1: How were you feeling? I guess yesterday going into Parliament

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Speaker 1: ready for that speech.

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Speaker 2: Ah, lots of mixed emotions, you know, obviously disappointment that

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Speaker 2: I'll be leaving, Feeling things that whilst I achieved a lot,

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Speaker 2: there's still a lot more that I would have liked

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Speaker 2: to achieve, you know, but also feeling grateful for the

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Speaker 2: time that I have had here and the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: get things for the territory.

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Speaker 1: Was it hard then doing that speech in Parliament yesterday?

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Speaker 1: I know that you revealed a lot. Was it a

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Speaker 1: difficult thing to do? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Hell, hell yeah, Katie, it was. It was. It was

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Speaker 2: a really difficult thing to do. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask, you know, how are you reflecting

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Speaker 1: on your time as a senator at the at that

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Speaker 1: federal level now since you know, since delivering that speech yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I'm very much trying to to reflect on

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Speaker 2: the positives and trying to, you know, to talk with

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Speaker 2: my colleagues and others about the positive things that I've

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Speaker 2: managed to achieve and the things that have been positive

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Speaker 2: for me. You know, there's you know, there's well publicized negatives,

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Speaker 2: but I'm trying not to reflect on those.

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Speaker 1: I know that you did say that your reason to

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Speaker 1: resign was driven by a former staff member who terrorized

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Speaker 1: you in your office and your office, So you, as

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Speaker 1: well as from what I can gather other people, how

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Speaker 1: did that play on you over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 2: Oh, very very heavily, very very heavily. It's it's obviously

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Speaker 2: a very difficult and stressful situation. I thought that I

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Speaker 2: had put it all behind me, moved on, you know,

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Speaker 2: picked myself up and carried on and regrouped. I thought

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Speaker 2: I had done that, and then you know, as I've said,

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Speaker 2: the COLP chose to you know, effectively have that person

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Speaker 2: staring me down in a room, and they thought that

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Speaker 2: that was perfectly okay. So that you know, rekindled all

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Speaker 2: the negatives and you know, brought back all that that

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Speaker 2: that stress and anxiety.

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Speaker 1: Sam, there's been a lot of talk around women in

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Speaker 1: politics of late, particularly after the passing of Senator Kimberly

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Speaker 1: Kitchen and allegations of that mean girl atmosphere within the

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Speaker 1: Labor Party. How do you view the position of women

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Speaker 1: in politics based on your own personal experience.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Katie, it's still it's still a tough gig.

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Speaker 2: It really really is tough. Still. You know, there are

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Speaker 2: these incidents of bullying, harassment, aggression. They do certainly seem

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Speaker 2: to be targeted more at women. And it's not you know,

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Speaker 2: I did say this in my speech yesterday, it's not

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Speaker 2: it's not it's not a male problem because you know

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Speaker 2: a lot of these recent incidents seem to have been

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Speaker 2: female on female. So we're doing it for uself.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's buddy, disappointing, you know, and you just think,

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Speaker 1: I don't know understand how we can't all respect each

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Speaker 1: other a little bit more. And you know, even watching

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Speaker 1: Parliament here in the Northern Territory yesterday, some of the

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Speaker 1: behavior and that's sort of in the chamber as well.

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Speaker 1: But then you think behind the scenes, I just wonder

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Speaker 1: what goes on sometimes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's right, and it is disappointing, and I

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Speaker 2: think we need to we really need to move beyond

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Speaker 2: that from a personal level. You know, I get the

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Speaker 2: RGI bargie in the chamber and in the media and

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Speaker 2: you know, talking down your opposition and all that sort

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Speaker 2: of thing that I get, but that really needs to

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Speaker 2: be divorced from the behavior that we see behind the scenes.

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Speaker 2: And that's often effectively, you know, a blue on blue situation,

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Speaker 2: you know, so so often it's coming from what is

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Speaker 2: supposed to be your own team.

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Speaker 1: Sam, how are your relationships with the Liberal National Party?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, look good. I'm still a lot of people

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Speaker 2: think that I've become independent or sitting on the cross bench.

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Speaker 2: I'm not. I'm still a part of the National Party.

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Speaker 2: I still sit with the National Party. I still sit

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Speaker 2: in their party room and I still sit with them

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Speaker 2: in the Senate, So yeah, look, my relationships with them

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Speaker 2: are good.

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Speaker 1: I know that Concetta Ferraventi Wells has come out in

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Speaker 1: recent days to say Scott Morrison's not fit to be

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister, stemming from frustrations over the process for

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Speaker 1: pre selection for key seats. How do you think it

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Speaker 1: affects the party coming into an election.

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Speaker 2: Look, I mean, you know, I'm sorry that Connie feels

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Speaker 2: that way. She's a colleague of mine. I'm sorry that

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Speaker 2: that's been her experience. It's not been my experience. And

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Speaker 2: you know, I honestly I don't I think the public

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Speaker 2: are going to be more focused on, you know, their

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Speaker 2: financial situation, the situation with COVID, the management of the government,

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Speaker 2: the management of the economy. I think they're going to

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Speaker 2: be more focused on that, and I really don't see

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Speaker 2: this as being a very big distraction.

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Speaker 1: Sam. What are you most proud of from your time

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Speaker 1: as a Senator?

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Speaker 2: A couple of things, Katie. I'm probably I'm probably very

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Speaker 2: proud of having retained our two lower House seats for

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Speaker 2: the Northern territory. That was a hell of a battle,

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Speaker 2: and I'm very proud of being You know that voters

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Speaker 2: are going to go to this election having two seats

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Speaker 2: Lingiari and Solomon to vote on. They would have if

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Speaker 2: I'd not taken the steps I took, they would have

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Speaker 2: hardly had one. So I'm very proud of achieving that.

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Speaker 2: I'm very proud of the work that I've done for

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory agricultural industries, cattle industry, live export, and mango.

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Speaker 2: I'm proud of the work that I was able to

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Speaker 2: do there. That's a hell of a lot of money

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Speaker 2: into the anti economy that wouldn't otherwise have happened.

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Speaker 1: What's next for you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Katie, you know that's the question everyone's asking.

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Speaker 2: I honestly haven't made a decision on what I'm doing

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Speaker 2: in the future. I'm in a very fortunate position. I'm

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Speaker 2: a veterinary surgeon. I still have my veterinary practices, so

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Speaker 2: I can step back into that tomorrow. But I'm just

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Speaker 2: keeping my options open. I may have a short break.

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Speaker 2: I haven't really had much of a break in three years,

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Speaker 2: so I might just have a bit of a short

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Speaker 2: break to reflect on sort of the last three years

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Speaker 2: and make some measured decisions on my future.

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Speaker 1: Senator, I don't really want to finish on a negative,

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Speaker 1: but I don't. I feel like I can't let you

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Speaker 1: go without asking you. Do you feel as though the

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Speaker 1: COLP has made any changes or the changes required to

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Speaker 1: make everybody within the party feel safe, look.

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Speaker 2: Katie, Disappointingly, No, no, I don't. I mean, I've resigned

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Speaker 2: from the party, so I don't know what they've done,

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Speaker 2: you know, in the last six weeks. But but no,

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Speaker 2: I don't feel that they have. And I mean, given

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Speaker 2: the fact that we've seen in the last six weeks

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Speaker 2: a couple of high, high level resignations from within the

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Speaker 2: CLP management, I don't feel that that things have progressed

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Speaker 2: the way they should have.

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Speaker 1: Senator Sam McMahon, I really appreciate all the time that

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Speaker 1: you've given us while you have been the Senator. I

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Speaker 1: wish you all the very best, and I've no doubt

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Speaker 1: that I will. I'll talk to you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no worries. Thanks, Thanks, thank you,