WA Nationals stalwart reveals ‘bullying, threats and intimidation’

“But worse than that, I have let down the women who stand behind me in the lay organisation who have also suffered these issues.

“I have asked people in the organisation to assist me to deal with those issues, rather than make a public statement at the outset, because if my interest was really to address the problem, I felt that I had an obligation to try to do that internally within the organisation. That has failed me.

“Indeed, there have been situations in which I have found myself subject to bullying, threats and intimidation.”

Ms Boydell said she could not leave the issues unaddressed and ask other young women to step into roles like her own.

“I know some people within the National Party will probably call for my resignation as a result,” she said.

“However, other people will finally applaud me, I think, for dealing publicly with something that they know I have tried to deal with privately within the organisation for a long time.

“I cannot leave this place with my integrity in place if I do not shine a light on this issue and stop being one of those women who walks past or does not address an issue I have experienced.

“We do have a culture of silence. However, when we are let down by the people in whom we have put our trust to deal with that issue, at some point, people break and have to shed a light on it.”

Labor’s leader in the Upper House, Sue Ellery, lauded Ms Boydell for speaking out.

“Jacqui Boydell will not come back after the election. She could have chosen to say nothing and to move on with her life or even to move on with her life, but to tackle the issues she has raised tonight outside the bubble that is Parliament but inside her party,” she said.

Ms Boydell was first elected in 2013 and has served as an MP for the Mining and Pastoral region, which encompasses the Pilbara, Kimberley and Goldfields.

WAtoday understands the party is preparing a response to her speech.