Female Regional MPs Speak Out on Safety Concerns Amid Escalating Threats

Female regional MPs are speaking out about the toll of staying safe while traveling across vast distances in isolated areas, amid escalating violent and sexual threats.

They say they are hypervigilant while traveling across large geographic electorates with few safeguards, and are questioning how to continue living and working in regional and rural areas while constantly monitoring their environment.

Safety Measures Under Review

Most are reviewing their safety measures and changing how they move in public spaces, which are often far from emergency services.

State Euroa MP Annabelle Cleeland shares her live location with her team while traveling throughout her regional electorate in north-east Victoria, but with poor phone reception in many areas, the only safety net she has is unreliable.

"You are hypervigilant to a degree that it is so exhausting," she said.

"I often have listening posts and might have 12 people having a cup of tea in different communities, and I think that as women we read people's energy very well and we can often feel that we're unsafe before we're unsafe — whether that's physical or emotional.

"Where I'm nervous about the future of our democracy is around that access of women because the abuse is so deeply personal — it's towards our children, towards our body, it's intimidating and it's so personal.

"We're having conversations around the safety of our children and there's no workplace in the world that you are put in these unsafe circumstances.

"We've somehow accepted a tolerance toward violence and abuse that's going to be really hard to come back from.

Escalating Violence and Intimidation

The attacks happened just weeks after the release of a survey by not-for-profit Women for Election that found nine in 10 women in politics experienced intimidation or abuse.

Chief executive Licia Heath said the findings should serve as a wake-up call for Australia.

"If capable women are choosing not to run, not to speak, or to leave public office because of relentless online abuse, Australian democracy is at risk," she said.

Animal Justice Party MP for Northern Victoria Georgie Purcell said she no longer felt safe at work.

"We have been begging for action before something actually happened and now it has," she said.

"I had someone write on a post saying … he wishes it was me.

"She said candidates on the hustings for the Victorian election were on edge.

Rates of Disrespect for Women

Patty Kinnersly, chief executive of Our Watch, Australia's leader in the primary prevention of violence against women, said disrespect towards women was "rife".

"It's in the algorithms; it's in the public narrative," she said.

"Women in public office are "almost without exception, being threatened with rape, the rape of their children, with murder," she said.

"The conversations have become more disrespectful, violence against women is incredibly high and the rates of disrespect for women in public discourse is right off the charts.

Call for Action

No woman should have to choose between her personal safety and contributing to public life, Ms Kinnersly said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week met with female members of caucus who were "particularly shaken" after the attack on Haines.

Federal Cooper MP and Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Ged Kearney said she had reflected on how people, particularly women, in public positions were not safe.

"The whole misogynistic aspect of it, sexualised threats, threats of rape. There is an added aspect being a woman I think that really heightens your vulnerability in some ways and the ways you go about your business," she said.