Boothby MP Nicolle Flint urges parliament to reform Australia’s lax social media laws

Outgoing Boothby MP Nicolle Flint has urged parliament to give women more protections against vicious online trolls, saying stopping them is “almost impossible”.

Stopping vicious online trolls from abusing women is “almost impossible”, outgoing Boothby MP Nicolle Flint says, as she urged parliament to immediately reform social media laws.

In a 60-page submission to a parliamentary inquiry examining online safety, Ms Flint has laid bare the devastating effects of being the target of sexist and misogynistic trolling, which forced her to announce her exit from federal parliament at the next election.

“Social media and online attacks on women are regularly sexist, misogynist, vicious and dangerous,” the Liberal MP wrote in her submission to the Select Committee on Social Media & Online Safety.

“This abuse must be stopped. However, under existing Australian laws it is almost impossible to prevent, prosecute or stop such attacks and abuse.”

The Boothby MP has urged parliament to immediately give more protections to women who are abused and trolled online. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ms Flint called for urgent legislation to give women greater protections, while taking aim at large social media companies that have “little interest in protecting and assisting women”.

“Contacting them to seek a review of content and assistance is an almost impossible task, let alone convincing them to take action,” she wrote.

Ms Flint said Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s proposed online defamation laws that would force social media giants to unmask online trolls was “helpful”, but it “puts the onus on the victim to pursue the troll or abuser”.

“Consideration must be given to additional protections for women so that the victims of this behaviour do not bear the brunt of also ending it,” she wrote.

In her impassioned submission, Ms Flint described several examples of times she and other prominent women, such as Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, were targeted with online abuse.

Ms Flint said the Prime Minister’s proposed legislation to unmask trolls was “helpful”, but it did not go far enough. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Ms Flint, who was at the centre of attacks by left-wing lobby group GetUp, described being stalked by a man during the 2019 Boothby election campaign.

Police cautioned a now-deceased Adelaide man, Dave Walsh, for stalking Ms Flint and taking photos of her. The man, who denied being part of GetUp, was also accused of “attacking, belittling or demeaning” (Ms Flint) on social media.

Ms Flint wrote the stalking made her feel “unsafe”, forcing her to scale back her solo campaigning efforts.

“I also stopped driving my branded campaign vehicle, because of concerns for my safety and the ease with which I could be identified when using my campaign vehicle,” she said.

Ms Flint took aim at controversial YouTube personality Friendlyjordies, who uploaded a video targeting her as a “hobo”, a “s**t local member” and a “whiny little b***ch”.

She said the video attracted dozens of viewer comments that were “similarly sexist, misogynist and derogatory” – some even suggesting she should be sexually assaulted and killed.

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