Sexualised, violent threats: female Victorian MPs fear for their safety as they fight more than just next month’s election
Özet haber: Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers. But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine
Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers. But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine
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On Monday night, Georgie Purcell shared a statement on social media in support of Helen Haines, who earlier that day had been allegedly attacked by a constituent in her regional Victorian electorate.
Purcell, a Victorian upper house MP whose region partly overlaps with Haines’s federal electorate, wrote that the alleged attack had sent chills down her spine. Being a woman in politics, she said, had changed the way she moved through the world – where she parked her car, which route she took home, even whether she held public events at all.
It didn’t take long to receive validation of why her precautions were necessary: a constituent commented on her Haines statement, saying he wished it had happened to Purcell. Another, a little while later, said: “You should be scared.”
Purcell reported them both. Beyond that, she says, there is “nothing else she can do” as the threats lack the specificity police require to take further action.
It leaves her on “high alert” with just five weeks until the Victorian election.
“One thing that is on my mind is there is 10 days of prepoll approaching where anyone who does want to undertake a targeted attack on a candidate or a member of parliament, it won’t be hard to work out where they are,” she says.
Purcell is not alone. Nationals MP Annabelle Cleeland, whose electorate of Euroa covers 11,452 square kilometres, says, due to threats, she shares her live location with her husband and staff when on the road.
“I don’t feel like I signed up for this job to put my children in harm’s way and, right now, I’m frightened about that,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday.
“It’s sexualised, it’s violent and they target your weaknesses and your vulnerabilities – your children, your home.”
MPs across Victoria’s political spectrum – predominantly women – have said that threats to their safety intensified during Victoria’s prolonged Covid lockdowns and have remained a constant since.
Few Victorians can forget that during the pandemic, an effigy of the then premier, Daniel Andrews, was subjected to a mock execution on the front steps of parliament amid debate over pandemic legislation.
The next day, Andrews said: “There are some people who are threatening me. They’re threatening my family. They are essentially attacking the safety of my family.”
It is understood the premier was receiving around-the-clock close personal protection at the time. During the 2022 election campaign, Andrews’ press conferences were largely kept out of public view. One exception, an event at a Caulfield dog park, drew a man intent on heckling him. In 2023, another man faced court on charges of stalking and harassing Andrews.
