‘Why do they do it?’: The vicious online abuse targeting Gold Coast councillors

Social media is infested with full-time trolls complaining about anything and everything, living lives that appear devoid of any joy. Why should anyone put up with them, asks Ann Wason Moore. TELL US YOUR VIEW - VOTE IN OUR POLL

Forget cricket, having a crack at politicians is this country’s national sport.

Maybe it’s a peculiarly Australian strain of tall poppy syndrome: the urge to cut down anyone high profile, even the people we ourselves elected.

I quite enjoy this national pastime of taking the piss – the irreverence of Aussies surely beats the sycophancy we see in certain quarters of the American citizenry (and media) right now.

Regardless, I’m beginning to believe we’re losing perspective when it comes to our healthy scepticism of those in power – at least at the local level of politics.

Because what I see online is more than a little sick.

Disrespect is one word to describe this behaviour, bullying is another.

Councillors at a budget meeting. Picture: John Gass.

I’m not talking about Mayor Tom Tate here … yes, he cops it perhaps more than any other, but he also dishes it. If anyone knows how to shrug off the haters, it’s our mayor.

My concern is more for our councillors and even those council officers and officials whose names are known and who work to literally serve the public.

While the salary for a Gold Coast councillor is a healthy $170,819, higher than anywhere in the state other than Brisbane, we also are the second largest Local Government Area in Australia in terms of population. So it’s a big job – and in this city, it’s 24/7 – not just in terms of official meetings and committees, but listening and responding to residents, attending multiple community events every week and communicating changes and issues.

And while $170k is a decent wage, plenty of tradies earn above that, let alone CEOs and professionals, so it’s a tough argument to say they do it for the money.

Besides, looking at the abuse they cop online, it’s hard to see why they do it at all.

I’m not talking about residents who have a grievance about an actual issue.

It is absolutely fair to criticise a decision, hold your local representative accountable and question their policies … although keeping a civil tongue in your head – or your keyboard – should be a necessity rather than a nicety.

The point is to play the ball, not the person.

But what we see right now is that all too often an announcement, even when positive, is met with insults, slurs and invective – much of it personal, much of it defamatory.

There are the usual accusations of corruption, bribery and being in a developer’s pocket, but there are also now dark hints towards sinister secrets, a conspiratorial suggestion that says ever so much more about the commenter than the councillor.

In fact, many of these comments come from people who seem to be full-time trolls, their lives devoted to complaining about anything and everything, blaming whoever is nearest to their pointed finger and living lives seemingly devoid of joy. I’d be sorry for them if they weren’t harming others.

Because the worst part is that as ridiculous as these intimations are, there will be a small segment who fall for it, and these ‘politicians’ are just people who live, work and serve in a small community, their kids go to local schools, they shop at the same supermarkets, they don’t have media teams to combat the lies.

Many of the nasty comments come from people who seem to be full-time trolls, their lives devoted to complaining about anything and everything. Picture: iStock

The whole point of Australians taking the piss out of pollies has always been about puncturing egos and levelling status, not destroying reputations or inflicting psychological harm.

As we adopt a social media ban for under-16s to protect them from the worst of social media, including online bullying, what about those in public-facing roles who are being abused?

Whether it’s harassment on a councillor’s public social media page or a defamatory statement about an employee on a business page, do employers owe a duty of care to provide legal guidance or a public response?

Where do we draw the line and start calling out bad behaviour?

Because right now, it’s just not cricket.