Northern Territory Senator Sam McMahon has quit the Country Liberal Party (CLP), saying she feared for her safety. 

Senator McMahon ended her 30-year association with the party last week, and has now revealed that part of her reason was a lack of action by CLP management over formal complaints she filed.

Senator McMahon said she raised “safety concerns” relating to members of the party, but they fell on deaf ears. 

“The correspondence between myself and the management committee of the party, I don't want to go into details of exactly what that correspondence was, but it revolved around me needing to feel safe in all aspects of my workplace, and that is one area I have concerns about,” Senator McMahon told reporters. 

“I've received no calls from anyone. I've only received a letter stating that they'd received my resignation.”

CLP president Jamie De Brenni denied ignoring the senator's complaints, claiming they were being processed with “due diligence”.

“The complaints [were] in regards to issues that Sam had with people inside the party, and that's going to be dealt with,” Mr De Brenni said. 

In explaining her situation, Senator McMahon referred to the Jenkins report - a damning 2021 report into the toxic culture of federal parliament.

The report found one in three parliamentary staff had been sexually harassed.

“This is more about the Jenkins report, and the need to feel safe in your workplace, and that's why it's very personal for me,” Senator McMahon said.

“The Jenkins report - which was the sex discrimination report into federal parliament workplaces - obviously highlighted that females in federal parliament have issues with feeling safe, and a lot of reports were made of instances where people didn't feel safe.

“And the Morrison government has done a lot of work in this area and has responded tremendously, and I have no problem with my federal workplace.

“The issue is that the CLP Central Council, you know … for a politician, the party meetings are part of your workplace, and that's the issue that I had.”

NT Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro, who is also the CLP's parliamentary leader, said she had not heard of Senator McMahon's concerns.

“That was all new news to me,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

“Of course, she has made the decision [to resign], [which] she needs to make for herself, and I respect that, and I think that, ultimately, we're all individuals and we're all part of a broader team but, from time to time, you have to make decisions to put your best interests first, and Sam has clearly done that.

“I don't share the same concerns, and I'm not aware of what Sam is concerned about but, of course, that's a private matter for her, and nor should I.”