A former senior Liberal Party figure who recently defected to One Nation has died after a short illness.
Teena McQueen, who served as the federal vice-president of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2023, died on Wednesday after battling severe sickness.
McQueen was a regular commentator on Sky News and made headlines when she joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in May.
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A long-time supporter of US President Donald Trump, McQueen had spent time with mining magnate Gina Rinehart at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Teena McQueen was a long-time supporter of US President Donald Trump. Credit: Instagram
Former prime minister and current Liberal president Tony Abbott said he had lost a good friend.
“Teena was a long-standing branch activist on the NSW Central Coast, a delegate to federal council and, eventually, a federal vice president of the Liberal Party,” he wrote in a social media post.
“At every level she was a consistent advocate for more internal party democracy and for policy in the tradition of Menzies and Howard.
“She sometimes put loyalty ahead of judgment but it was typical of Teena’s large and generous spirit that she would confide in others her plans and then take guidance on their merits.
“In recent weeks, her frustrations with the party became public but it was always the cause of better government for Australia that motivated her.
“I will miss her as will her many friends.”
McQueen served as the federal vice-president of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2023. Credit: Bianca De Marchi/AAP
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said it came as a “great surprise and incredible sadness”.
“I spent a week with Teena merely a month or so ago and never realised she was sick,” he wrote on social media.
“Teena dedicated herself to her nation via her passion for politics. Not as a politician but as the unpaid administration of the volunteer party structure.
“Conversations with Teena were often about, policies, our nation and the capabilities of politicians.
“To the very last this was her realm.
“Without Teena McQueen personalities party would not function.
“I offer my deep condolences to her family and note my abiding affection to this dear friend of mine.”
Rinehart also paid tribute, describing McQueen as an “exceptional” woman who “cared deeply” about Australia and its future.
“Teena had a wonderful ability to see through pretence and pick those who were, ‘all hat and no cattle’,” she said in a statement.
“She was straightforward and did not pretend to be anyone other than herself. These are just some of the many qualities that she will be long remembered for.
“She was a fiercely loyal friend, who brought warmth, conviction and strength to everything she believed in.“
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane described McQueen as a “force of nature in Australian politics” in a tribute posted to X.
“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Teena McQueen,” she wrote.
“Teena was a force of nature in Australian politics — passionate, outspoken, and utterly committed to the causes and values she believed in.
“She dedicated many years to the Liberal Party. My sincere condolences to her family.”
McQueen revealed in May that she felt the Liberal Party’s demise began when Abbott lost his position as prime minister.
She was a divisive political character even within Liberal ranks. In 2022, then-senator Simon Birmingham branded her position as the party’s vice president as untenable when she declared it was good “lefties” had left the party.
She reportedly told colleagues in a meeting in 2021 that she would “kill to be sexually harassed”, later saying it was a throwaway line because when women reached her age, they didn’t have to worry about being sexually assaulted.
With AAP.
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