Caleb Bond: Flint is a woman who was essentially hounded out of politics by feral activists

Nicolle Flint is a woman of the highest integrity and fiercely loyal. Her bravery in the face of vile abuse should be applauded, writes Caleb Bond.

The bravery of departing Boothby MP Nicolle Flint in standing against left-wing abuse must be applauded.

Her blistering take-down of Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, and the general self-serving attitude of many on the left when it comes to abusing women, did not miss.

This is a woman who was essentially hounded out of politics by feral activists – blasted with the most horrific and vile verbal abuse, often sexual in nature or based on her gender.

Almost all of it came from people – both men and women – who would otherwise decry abuse of women on their own side of politics as heinous.

“Men on the left, some of whom are public figures of influence, have done the following: stalked me; suggested I should be strangled; criticised the clothes I wear and the way I look; repeatedly called me a whiny little bitch; repeatedly called me weak, a slut, a dick … and much, much worse over email, online, on YouTube, on Facebook, and on Twitter,” Ms Flint told parliament this week.

“They’ve commented that I should be raped, grudge f--ked. That I’m doing sexual favours for all my male colleagues, that I should be killed, that I should kill myself, and many, many more things that I will not repeat here.

“These men have also consistently reminded me that I deserve everything that has happened to me.”

I am, unfortunately, sure that this excellent speech will have led to more of the same abuse – a reminder for Ms Flint of why she is leaving politics.

Her offices and posters have at various times been scrawled with messages calling her a slut and a skank – saying she would “blow and go” and that she was a $60-an-hour prostitute.

She was stalked by a man named David Walsh. He was issued a stalking caution by police.

His following of Ms Flint throughout her 2019 campaign made her begin to feel intimidated. She started taking a male colleague to all events and stopped driving around in her campaign vehicle because she felt it would make her a target.

She felt unsafe. That any woman of any political persuasion would have to endure this is bad enough. But something tells me that the outrage – the baying for blood – would have been much louder had it happened to a woman of the left.

You can see it happening in Victoria right now.

State Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela crossed the floor to vote against her own party and refer its conduct to the Ombudsman – the first Victorian Labor MP to defy the party in more than three decades.

The next day, Premier Daniel Andrews faced the press and could not bring himself to say Ms Vaghela’s name, referring to her only as “that person”.

It riled her so much that she revealed allegations of bullying and harassment within the party dating back years. She made complaints she says were largely ignored – but one resulted in a staffer in the Premier’s office being sacked.

She specifically accused Mr Andrews of being a misogynist and having little regard for women who do not agree with him.

If that were a Liberal woman complaining about the treatment of women in the Liberal Party, it would be the top story everywhere for a week.

But a Labor woman? Barely a peep out of the left. In fact, everyone is jumping up and down to deny it. Mr Andrews sent out a female minister from his own faction to defend him. They won’t even promise to investigate it.

Remember the waves caused by Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech? Now a Labor woman has accused her own party of misogyny and it has been swept under the carpet.

US President Joe Biden was accused in 2020 of sexual assault by one of his former staffers.

Tara Reade alleged that Biden pushed her against a wall in 1993, kissing her and putting his hand under her skirt before performing a sexual act.

Biden denied the allegations and they have not been taken further. But very little, in the grand scheme of things, has been made of them. It is seldom raised now.

Donald Trump will forever be marred by his “grab ’em by the pussy” remark – as well he should.

But it is interesting to note how many people who said Trump was unfit to be president on the basis of that recording also enthusiastically supported Biden – a man with a sexual assault allegation hanging over his head.

Ms Flint is a woman of the highest integrity. She is fiercely loyal and strives to help people wherever she can. I know personally.

Until the left can accept that it, too, has problems with sexism and harassment – until it expunges every sneering, misogynistic creep from its public ranks and accepts its complicity in abuse of conservative women – it cannot claim a monopoly on virtue.