Jess Scully calls out Glebe Transport Scandal Facebook posts

A senior Sydney politician has reported a community Facebook page to police claiming a series of ‘reprehensible’ posts about her are an ‘an inducement to stalking’.

Sydney’s deputy Lord Mayor has spoken out against what she has described as a series of “obsessive” Facebook posts targeted against her.

Cr Jess Scully said she will report the Glebe Transport Scandal Facebook page posts to police, calling them “an inducement to stalking”.

An administrator of the page said the posts were a lighthearted gimmick aimed at raising awareness of a community issue.

The posts show the rising political star cycling a pushbike and includes an offer of a cash bounty reward to take a photo or film the female councillor on her bike.

Councillor Jess Scully. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

The page posted three times in a 48-hour period offering the reward relating to the councillor using the Bridge Rd cycleway, which is set to close in the coming days.

Ms Scully said she had been aware of posts from the Facebook page for a number of months but felt she could no longer ignore them following a sleepless night.

“The thing that I find reprehensible and totally unacceptable … is the fact that they were offering money for people to take photographs and videos of me in my neighbourhood,” she said. “That I thought was basically an inducement to stalking and that’s why I called it out.”

It comes just as Ms Scully joined thousands of others in protesting the treatment of women in politics, an irony not lost on her.

“I also copped criticism from people for calling it out,” she said. “People said to me “you’re a sook, you’re creating drama, this is a political stunt, you are in the public and you should expect that this sort of thing could happen. I actually think it’s this kind of targeted trolling that keeps a lot of people out of politics.

One of the posts Cr Scully is complaining about

“Women do experience more gendered and targeted, and often more vitriolic, abuse online.

“Politics should be a safe space for women. I’m being targeted and people in my community are offering to pay for photographs and videos of. That makes me feel sick. I don’t understand how I could ever encourage another woman to stand for politics when I know this kind of behaviour happens.”

A female administrator of the Facebook page, who identified herself as a 61-year-old Glebe resident, said she defended the “lighthearted gimmick” raising attention about a community issue.

“We certainly did not even consider that anything unpleasant or menacing would happen (as a result of the Facebook post),” she said.

Councillor Jess Scully pictured with Lord Mayor Clover Moore back in 2018 (AAP - Flavio Brancaleone)

“The page does not believe the posts were abusive to Ms Scully, who did not at any point contact us to complain about the posts or ask us to delete them. The content of the posts is what most politicians would expect in the course of robust political debate.

“If as a politician and public figure Ms Scully regards this (three Facebook posts) as excessive, she should find a job outside politics.”