 McMahon had been a minister continuously for 21 years and 6 months, a record in the Australian Government that has never been threatened.Only Sir George Pearce and Sir John McEwen had longer overall ministerial service, but their terms were not continuous.Political journalist Laurie Oakes described McMahon as "devious, nasty, dishonest - he lied all the time and stole things" before describing an incident where McMahon attempted to steal a tape recorder from his radio station by claiming ownership of the device despite it having the radio station's name engraved on it.