Erin Molan reveals political ambitions after being approached about running for Eden Monaro

Channel 9 sports Erin Molan has spoken about her plans for federal politics after it was revealed she was approached to run in a key seat.

Channel 9 sports presenter Erin Molan has confirmed she has political ambitions “down the track” but the upcoming election is not the right time.

The 38-year-old appeared at a press conference with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Penshurst Girls High School in Sydney’s southwest on Wednesday and revealed she had been inundated with support after speaking out about online abuse she had received.

The government last month announced it would be seeking to introduce world-first laws to expose the identities of anonymous trolls by giving Australian courts the power to order social media giants to identify them or be liable for defamation costs.

A parliamentary inquiry has also been announced to investigate the toxic material online.

Speaking on Wednesday, Molan revealed she had received a letter from a teacher that terrified her.

Erin Molan said she would one day be interested in becoming an MP. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“What really hit home to me was a letter I got from a year 3 teacher talking about the fact the first three hours of every lesson in the morning was not geography, not English, not maths, it was dealing with the fallout from the night before of online behaviour,” she said.

“Dealing with the fallout of what these kids were subjected to online the night before.

“And that terrified me, absolutely terrified me.

“So this is not about me, this is about making the world a safer place for our kids.”

She was also asked about her political ambitions after it was revealed she had been approached by the Liberal Party about taking on the seat of Eden-Monaro – where she grew up – at the next federal election.

Molan said she was now a working single mum with a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter after splitting from her partner, homicide detective Sean Ogilvy, and her work at the moment was already pretty taxing.

Molan and Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke about the impacts of online trolling. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“My biggest thing in life is I never want to look back and regret not spending the time with my daughter that she deserves and now my situation is changed a bit,” she said.

“I’m very honoured to have been asked, I’m flattered to have been considered, but the timing for me right now is not right, but down the track hopefully.”

Mr Morrison said he respected her decision.

“Politics is a hard business and it’s a very tough business,” he said.

“It’s very demanding and one of my golden rules is if you’re not ready to come in, then that’s not the right time for you and I have always respected those decisions.”