Liberal MP Nicolle Flint receives abusive messages after lashing Labor culture

A retiring Liberal MP has been inundated with abusive messages in the last 48 hours after criticising Labor for not calling out her harassers.

Anonymous trolls have hurled abuse and violent threats at outgoing Liberal MP Nicolle Flint after she criticised Labor for being silent when she was harassed during the last election.

Her harrowing account of abuse was condemned by Labor and sparked an outpouring of further examples from female MPs on Thursday.

Ms Flint revealed she has “tried hard not to cry” during speeches and has been struggling to cope with the torrent of online abuse she has received in the past 48 hours, including one person calling her a “ruling class sl*t”.

In the same message, the writer told Ms Flint she is a “most rancid coward” and an “endless liar”.

Ms Flint said she had also been accused of using the “female cry tactic,” while another abuser told her they “do not believe one word you said.”

Ms Flint revealed the abuse during a speech to the Federation Chamber. Picture: Gary Ramage

One anonymous person told her: “no wonder you are being stalked by someone, you deserve it”.

Ms Flint described the abuse she had received in a speech to the Federation Chamber on Thursday.

Labor frontbencher Ed Husic said the messages Ms Flint had received were “completely unacceptable”.

“Our democracy is strengthened by being able to challenge ideas in a way that do not resort to what we have had to see experienced (by Ms Flint),” he said.

Dr Anne Aly spoke about the abuse she has received from trolls online. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Following Ms Flint’s speech, Labor MPs Anne Aly, Susan Templeman and Ged Kearney all revealed some of the personal attacks they have experienced.

Dr Aly condemned the “vile racist material” she was constantly bombarded with.

She said one online abuser wrote to her, “I’m predicting that you will be shot dead at your local shopping centre carpark in the near future. Ha, ha”. 

She said another person also regularly writes calling her an “ISIS whore”.

Ms Templeman revealed she had been on the receiving end of personal attacks online, as well as “obscenely defaced campaign posters” and threats of “violence and death”.

“No-one should face this — not in any work environment,” she said.

Labor MP Ged Kearney said she was threatened during a bitterly fought by-election campaign. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

In her speech, Ms Kearney exposed the “undesirable tactics” from supporters on “both sides” when she fought a tough by-election three years ago. 

“One poster … outside the front door said – ‘open season on politicians’ with a picture implying I was fair game to be shot,” she said. 

Ms Kearney said women on all sides of politics needed to “fight together” against “woman hating everywhere”.

“If this is happening to one, it is happening to us all,” she said. 

On Tuesday Ms Flint had used a speech in Parliament to tell Labor to “get your own house in order” because changing the culture in parliament should be “above politics”.

Ms Flint, who decided not to recontest her South Australian seat of Boothby after being hounded and stalked during the 2019 campaign, criticised Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s response to the allegations of harassment and assault that have rocked parliament.

She accused Mr Albanese of directing “almost all of his outrage” at the Coalition and not properly addressing the issues within Labor.

One troll said Ms Flint “deserved” to be stalked. Picture: Gary Ramage

“The safety of women in this place … should be above politics,” Ms Flint said in a speech last night. “Where was (Mr Albanese), and where was his predecessor, and where were all the senior Labor women, when the GetUp, Labor and union supporters chased, harassed and screamed at me everywhere I went.”

Ms Flint also told her colleagues in a party room meeting that the past month had been especially difficult for women.

She was backed by other MPs, with one arguing the Coalition had to listen to community concerns, and improve the pipeline of females entering conservative politics.

Another Coalition member warned against solely attacking Labor or the Greens over the treatment of women, as it could make the government look hypocritical.

Ms Flint said she found it “hard to believe” Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek was not aware of the GetUp campaign against her at the time.

“(Labor) may not have held the spray can, to vandalise my office with sexist slurs, they may not have held the camera pointed at me by the stalker or called me evil,” she said. “But they did create an environment in which hate could flourish.”

Ms Plibersek yesterday­ ­responded to the accusation insisting she was “unaware of any harassment” by GetUp “until very recently”.

“When I heard that the member for Boothby was retiring, I contacted her to tell her that I regret that she’s leaving politics and that I wish her the best,” she said.

Ms Plibersek said she would like to see “more Liberal women” in parliament, “not less”.