Nationals senator Perin Davey reveals why she slurred her words during Senate estimates

National Party deputy leader Perin Davey has revealed the real reason why she slurred her words during a Senate estimates hearing last week.

Senator Davey made headlines this weekend when a video surfaced of her making a lengthy statement during the late-night committee meeting.

She later admitted that she had had a few glasses of red wine beforehand.

On Tuesday, the previously little-known federal senator from regional NSW told a Bathurst radio station that the incident stemmed from a medical emergency she had five years ago that left her “sometimes using swear words”.

In 2019, the Coalition frontbencher underwent two emergency operations after an abscess in her tonsils “completely erupted” during a flight to Germany, causing damage to her facial muscles and tissue in her throat muscles.

“I had full blown sepsis and was in hospital for 11 days and lost count of the number of antibiotic transfusions I had,” Senator Davey explained to 2BS presenter Dusty Fitzpatrick.

When doctors asked Senator Davey at the time what her job was, she said she was campaigning to become a politician.

“They warned me it would affect my speech,” she recalled.

‘Since then I’ve been very conscious of it (but) I’ve always thought I’ve done very well.

Senator Davey, 52, added that when she’s “tired or I’ve had a glass of wine, or I’m stressed, my throat catches up, sometimes a little mucus falls down my throat and I get into a coughing fit.” , sometimes I make unclear words.’

She said she had never spoken publicly about her medical condition before because it was “personal.”

She is now speaking out over the scrutiny of her committee appearance, which came a few days after Daily Mail Australia published a video of her colleague Barnaby Joyce talking loudly on his phone while lying on a footpath.

She said reports of her slurred words left her “distraught” and that she initially thought the meeting went well.

“I was so happy with my questions, I cut the video and sent it to some of my friends in the arts community because the answers I got were so important to put on the record,” said Senator Davey.

“And then to have someone selectively cut the video so that it focuses on words that I stumble over and imply that I was incoherent throughout the whole thing, I’m just distraught about that.”

The senator said the publicity surrounding it was “really disheartening, and you can kind of understand why young kids look at politics and think, ‘Do I want to be a part of that?

‘Because you have to be one hundred percent pure. Now I admit that I had a few drinks before going to the Senate hearing, but I was not drunk.”

Senator Davey said she should be judged ‘on the content of what I do, not the way I articulate’.

Senator Davey (pictured) made headlines when a video emerged of her making a lengthy statement at a late-night committee meeting, later admitting she had had a few glasses of red wine beforehand.

National Senator Perin Davey (right) is often depicted with a glass of wine