Politics is getting increasingly dangerous. Even here in Victoria

As an unabashed lover of politics, elections are one of my favourite days on the calendar.

I cringe at the comparison of treating politics like a football match, but it is true that for political reporters it’s like grand final day.

A woman lays flowers in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, near where British MP Sir David Amess was murdered. There are serious concerns that violent political rhetoric is also taking Australia down a dangerous path. Credit: AP

At schools and civic centres millions of voters have their say in the privacy of the voting booth only to emerge to a sausage sizzle or cake stand where politics is put aside for a shared love of comfort food. Then, as the polls close, the incendiary rhetoric from politicians stops as MPs finally fess up to policy missteps.

I have also long enjoyed observing the camaraderie between political rivals on the voting booths. It is not unusual for volunteers from opposing parties to natter about the things that unite us – footy, community, food, weather – while simultaneously handing out flyers for their preferred side.

You see candidates and campaigners offering to buy a round of coffees with a quip about a Greens’ volunteer’s preference for plant-based milk being the most egregious offence.

All signs of a healthy and peaceful democracy.

Josh Frydenberg enjoying a democracy sausage at Belle Vue Primary School Polling Booth in Balwyn North in 2022.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

But ask any MP, and they will agree that the mood has shifted in recent elections.

This is backed up by a new report by a Victorian parliamentary committee that details a dangerous shift at elections over the past decade.

Seasoned MPs have long recognised the dangerous trend, and it is now backed up by data. According to the report, the number of complaints about campaigner and candidate behaviour has nearly tripled over the last three elections.

During evidence, Labor MP Gary Maas told the committee that in 25 years of campaigning he had never felt that his safety was compromised, until the 2022 Victorian State Election. Liberal MP Bill Tilley said the 2022 campaign was “one of the most bitter, divisive, and antagonistic campaigns of my 16 years in politics”.

In its hearings, parliament’s electoral matters committee heard countless examples of poor behaviour at voting centres by candidates and volunteers ranging from aggression, racial and sexist remarks as well as the taking photographs and video of other campaigners without permission.

But then there were the more extreme examples.

One campaigner, associated with a so-called teal candidate, twice caught someone trying to set their campaign office on fire.

Another candidate at a voting centre was overheard describing how he would “kill the premier” while a second candidate said she would turn the premier (then Daniel Andrews) into “red mist”.

In the UK, the murders of two MPs – Jo Cox in 2016 and David Amess in 2021 – forced successive parliaments to try to address the rise in violence.

Compared to murder, of course, slurs and threats ​on polling booths may appear trivial, but ask any Australia MP about the persistent nature and proliferation of social media threats, and you can see why they are fearful that abuse will manifest into violence.

To combat bad behaviour, the UK introduced a new penalty, “disqualification orders”, for intimidating election candidates and campaigners, which came into force in November 2023.

Has it worked?

Not according to House of Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, who last month said that he has “never seen anything as bad” as the current level of threats and intimidation being directed at MPs.

This week, Victoria’s own bipartisan committee handed down its assessment of the 2022 election, which recommended a new code of conduct that explicitly sets out what behaviour is acceptable for campaigners.

The committee recognises it would also need to penalise breaches, and recommends infringement notices, cautions and warnings. It also called on parliament to consider law changes that would make it an offence for a person removed from a voting centre to return.

With the greatest respect, it’s fair to ask whether, in the current climate, these recommendations go far enough.

Examples of political violence in the UK, and the US, where violence deeply infects the process, should serve as a grim warning of what happens if we don’t act.

More encouragingly, there finally seems to be some bipartisan support to abolish group voting in the upper house. It’s a system that for too long has allowed micro parties to swap preferences and leapfrog more popular candidates onto the crossbench.

The parliament’s electoral matters committee has finally called for Victoria to adopt a similar voting system to the Commonwealth’s Senate, effectively preventing parties from trading their preferences after years of inaction from the government.

An overhaul will now require the government and opposition to together back legislation before the 2026 election.

Annika Smethurst is state political editor.

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