Outgoing Coalition senator Sam McMahon says she is haunted by the death of her late colleague Kimberley Kitching, who "could so easily have been me".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Addressing the Senate for her valedictory speech on Wednesday, Senator McMahon revealed she sought professional help for anxiety and PTSD after allegedly being subjected to "abuse and terror" by a former staffer, who was later placed in a senior party role.
The senator for the NT also reiterated her calls for territory rights, saying residents of her territory and the ACT are being treated as second-class citizens.
She paid special tribute to Kimberley Kitching, who died this month of a suspected heart attack, but warned against treating the issue as a partisan football.
"One thing that haunts me is that so easily could have been me," she said.
"We can honour her memory by not making this a political issue, but by fixing it, so politics is a better place, particularly for women."
Senator Kitching reportedly complained of being bullied and ostracised by colleagues, which her friends and factional allies have implied played a role in her death.
But Senator McMahon urged her colleagues not to "point to the other side" on bullying, which she said was not confined to a single party or faction.
"But it certainly can be a political thing," she said.
Under parliamentary privilege, Senator McMahon said she and her office had been subjected to "abuse and terror" from her former chief-of-staff.
The man was moved to the CLP's central council, and an emotional Senator McMahon described being forced to sit in meetings with him was a "very, very stressful experience".
"[It] has not been without me seeking out professional assistance to overcome the anxiety and PTSD created," she said.
Senator McMahon lost her preselection last year, before later resigning from the CLP.
READ MORE:
She insisted her resignation was not driven by the preselection battle, which she lauded as a "democratic process", but by the party's inaction after she raised concerns over her personal safety.
"A great friend of mine once said, 'Politics is a nefarious business'. And he is right," she said.
"My only hope is that we are learning and evolving, and it won't always have to be this way."
Senator McMahon was the architect of a bill to restore the NT's right to legislate on voluntary assisted dying. Territory laws are subject to a federal veto, a significant roadblock to implementing contentious reforms.
Senator McMahon paid tribute to Labor senator Don Farrell, who she said had supported her push for territory rights, despite his personal opposition to voluntary assisted dying.
"Every other state in Australia is allowed to at least debate voluntary assisted dying laws, and yet we in the NT and the ACT are not," she said.
"We are not second-class citizens, so I ask that we not be treated this way."
