Female politicians of the centre-right face some of the most “disgusting vitriol online,” according to opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Dutton said that if Parliament hopes to attract more women candidates, then it needed to deal with the issue; otherwise, diversity of opinion simply would “not exist.”
“Today [the Liberal-National Coalition] have 10 women in the shadow cabinet, the same number as the government has for its cabinet, and 17 women all together in [the] outer and assistant shadow ministry,” he told Parliament on Feb. 8 on the one-year anniversary of the handing down of the Set the Standard report into federal Parliament’s workplace culture.
Dutton said women were part of the Coalition because of their experience and skills, and the party wanted more people from different backgrounds to join.
“Unquestionably, a factor which can discourage women from pursuing political office is the reprehensible treatment that several female politicians have received online in recent times,” he said.
“Obviously, such behaviour is not limited to Liberal women, but women of centre-right views are subjected to some of the most disgusting vitriol online and [on] social media dominated by the extreme and insidious left.”
Liberal MP Battling Online Abuse
Flint did not recontest her seat in 2022 after winning it in 2019, and the South Australian MP said she was subject to extensive personal attacks online.“I was harassed, faced vile, misogynistic attacks and frequently feared for my personal safety,” she said.
“Overall, there is a need for further legislation to be enacted to protect women and to reduce sexist, misogynist, and gendered attacks and abuse, which lead to more serious harms to women.”
Flint also recognised that Labor MPs and high-profile journalists had also faced abuse.
Some of the proposals put forward by Flint include amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to increase protections for women and amending the Criminal Code Act 1995 to do the same.
Labor MP Says Dutton Pitting Progressives Against the Centre-Right
Meanwhile, in response to Dutton’s speech, newly elected Labor MP Sally Sitou said the opposition leader should have adopted a more positive tone to discussing the Set the Standard report.“The leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, decided to use his speech to pit the experiences of progressive female parliamentarians against those in the centre-right. Suggesting that women in the Coalition experience more online trolling,” she told Parliament.
“I can assure him that I, too, get trolled online in a way that is both gendered and race-based. But that’s not the point of today. The point of the Set the Standard report is to ask us all to do better.”
She said there was a role for all men and women to make Parliament a “safe and inclusive workplace.”
“In order to lift the standard of debate in this country and make it more respectful—we need all our leaders to work together.”
