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The incident coincides with several reviews of workplace culture in Parliament following allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the building.
At approximately 10:45 p.m., Senator McMahon appears in the footage with the support of National Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie and Attorney General Michaelia Cash. The couple watched as she stood up and slowly walked across the bedroom floor to another division.
Senator Cash then encourages him to sit on the other side of the room and continues talking to him.
After another vote was counted, Government Whip Dean Smith is seen speaking and gesturing to Nationals Whip Perin Davey, who then approached Senator McMahon.
She is then aided from her seat by Senator Davey and Senator Cash, appearing to hold their hands as she attempts to rise from her seat. After a short period of pointing towards the door, Senator McMahon stumbles towards the exit, bows to the Speaker of the Senate and leaves.
She then got a pair for the rest of the evening.
Senator Smith did not return calls and Senator Davey said she would not comment on the incident.
We all thought it wouldn’t go that far, a Coalition colleague said. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Another senator said that Senator McKenzie, whose behavior during the same period has been described as quite rude, then stepped in to deal with the situation.
Senator McMahon was among the national MPs who voted for Mr Joyce’s installation this week, telling The NT News that she has a very close relationship with the new Deputy Prime Minister.
Her future in the Federal Parliament played a key role in the village hall that turned against Mr McCormack as he was seen as not showing enough support for her in the preselection battle.
Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Price and Tim Dixon, chief of staff to NT opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro, are among the shortlisted candidates.
Senators and CLP MPs can choose to sit in the Liberal or National Party Hall, with nationals concerned, the village hall could shrink and they could lose a ministerial quota if Senator McMahon did not return.
Victorian Senator Sarah Henderson and fellow Liberal MP Katie Allen said in March they would be ready to undergo a breathalyzer test for alcohol and drugs in Parliament, saying the building should have the highest possible standards and that it currently had outdated policies and procedures.
In 2003, Andrew Bartlett resigned as leader of the Australian Democrats after a late-night row with Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris that left her to treat an injured arm.
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Senator Bartlett mutilated and cursed Senator Ferris following a dispute over bottles of wine she said she took at a Christmas party.
Senator Ferris said the Democratic leader was angry with her for asking earlier to return five bottles of wine he took at a Liberal Party Christmas barbecue.
Later that night, when Senators passed each other on the Senate floor following a split, Senator Bartlett shook her by the shoulder and called her a slut.
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