Nicolle Flint’s warning to activists as she confirms Boothby candidacy

The resurgent Liberal candidate has a message for the left-wing activists who hounded her out of politics just four years ago – target me and you will only embolden my bid for Boothby.

Peter Dutton and Nicolle Flint. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Keryn Stevens

Resurgent Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint has a message for the left-wing activists who hounded her out of politics just four years ago – target me again and you will only embolden my bid to regain the South Australian federal seat of Boothby.

Having suddenly quit politics in 2021 citing the “toxic” Canberra culture and the GetUp! and union-led harassment which marred her successful 2019 Boothby campaign, Ms Flint today (Wednesday) confirmed she would be a candidate again for that very seat at the next federal election.

In a win for the SA Liberal division which has struggled to promote female candidates to winnable seats, Ms Flint is one of three Liberal women who have been guaranteed preselection by nominating unopposed for key SA federal seats.

The importance to the Liberals of regaining the marginal southern suburban seat of Boothby was underscored with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton flying to Adelaide today to join Ms Flint in confirming her candidacy.

“It’s on the must-win list,” Mr Dutton told The Australian.

“Nicolle was a very effective local member and she left under very difficult circumstances, The harassment and bullying that was taking place, I don’t think that was fair on anyone. She felt that acutely but she is now determined to come back in and is to make a difference and stare down all that.

“She is a great contributor to the Liberal Party and she will be a great local member again for us.”

Ms Flint was hounded, stalked and labelled a “slut” and “skank” during the 2019 campaign with multiple unions and GetUp! activists effectively setting up camp outside her office, which was also targeted with multiple graffiti attacks.

She also faced sexist commentary from left-wing media figures including former Fairfax columnist Mike Carlton who labelled her a “Liberal shill” who deserved to be strangled; and former ABC Adelaide radio presenter Peter Goers ridiculed her clothes, prompting Ms Flint to post a video which went viral where she responded by dressing in a garbage bag.

A party conservative who worked formerly for the Institute of Public Affairs and is now a regular contributor to Sky News, Ms Flint told The Australian that the abuse she had faced had been counter-productive for the Left.

She said that since leaving politics and having fully recounted the harassment she faced, many voters in Boothby had approached her saying they were “appalled” to learn what she had endured and urging her to run again.

“The reason I was so public about what happened, especially after I retired, is that I want to prevent that type of behaviour from happening to any other candidate ever again,” Ms Flint said. “The onus is on the unions, Labor, the Greens, GetUp! to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“If it happens again I will do what I did last time which is to knuckle down and concentrate on talking about the issues and trying to win the seat, but it should not happen again because the public is sick of that kind of conduct and no-one should have to endure it.

“When you look at all the horrible events of the last few days I think we need to set an example that as politicians we need to set an example, and will not tolerate dangerous behaviour towards women, or indeed anyone, regardless of which party they represent.”

Ms Flint said her decision to return to politics had been cemented by two things – her anger at the performance of the Albanese Government and her determination to see a Dutton Government succeed.

She said Boothby was a classic “middle Australian” suburban seat where homeowners and small businesses were bearing the brunt of what she described as Labor mismanagement of energy policy and the cost of living.

She said that at the state level the seat had also been hurt by SA Labor’s closure of the Repatriation Hospital, which had been reopened by the Marshall Liberal Government with support from the Coalition.

“Boothby is a seat which reflects all the big cost of living challenges we are seeing nationally,” she said.

“It is not just the costs to business but the impact on their customers as they deal with the pressures on them, meaning you get café owners saying people are pulling back on buying coffees or little local supermarkets saying that when mum comes in after school she is buying just one ice cream for her kids to share.”

Ms Flint’s decision to leave politics was also fuelled by a battle with endometriosis, with women’s health one of the key issues she also wants to champion if she succeeds in returning to politics.

The return of Ms Flint comes with two other women being guaranteed preselection in SA federal seats, Amy Grantham in Adelaide and Irena Zagladov in Makin, both of which are safe Labor seats.

Boothby however is very winnable for the Liberals, having been won by Labor’s Louise Miller Frost by 3.3 per cent at the 2022 federal election, the first time Labor had held the seat since 1949.

The preselection of all three women is a much-needed tactical win for the SA Liberals, with the division having no women in federal Lower House seats, just two in the state’s Lower House versus Labor’s 15, and where the party went to war last month over conservative Senator Alex Antic’s ousting of Senator Anne Ruston for the number-one Senate spot.

Mr Dutton told The Australian that the preselection of the three women was “great news” which showed the party’s existing systems worked to deliver talented female candidates.

“They are three fantastic candidates,” Mr Dutton told The Australian. “We obviously want to get more women into the parliament and our members have spoken conclusively. They want strong effective local members based on merit, they want women who can come into the Parliament and make a difference. We are serious about getting back in the game in SA.”