Get your own house in order, Nicolle Flint tells ALP

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint accuses Labor of politicising the safety of women and slams Anthony Albanese for failing to condemn harassment of her.

Member for Boothby, Nicolle Flint MP. Picture: John Feder

Outgoing Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has accused Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek of failing to condemn ALP, Get Up and union supporters who “chased, harassed and screamed” at her during the 2019 election, saying they created an environment “in which hate could flourish”.

Ms Flint, whom The Australian revealed was leaving politics because of the toxic culture she experienced as a female MP, used an adjournment speech in parliament on Tuesday night to take aim at the Opposition Leader for crawling “down into the gutter” and politicising the safety of women.

She urged him to “get your house in order”, saying responsibility for change needed to be shared by both sides of politics.

“The safety of women in this place, of female staff, of female MPs and senators, should be above politics,” Ms Flint said.

“I sat in this place and listened to the Leader of the Opposition express outrage at the treatment of women in politics and insist that we all need to listen to what women are saying.

“He directed ­almost all of his outrage at my government and my party.

“I heard him say almost nothing about his own ... Well I say to the Leader of the Opposition, and I hope he is listening right now, I will not be lectured by you or by anyone on your side of pol­itics about the treatment of women in this place. Where was he, and where was his predecessor, and where were all the senior Labor women, when the Get Up, Labor and union supporters chased, harassed and screamed at me everywhere I went in the lead-up to the 2019 election?”

Ms Flint said left-wing campaigners had posted “comment after hateful comment” about her on Twitter and Facebook, and she had been “stalked by a creepy old man who worked hand-in glove with Get Up”.

She said her fellow Liberal candidate Georgina Downer, who failed to win the South Australian seat of Mayo, had also been stalked by an “aggressive old man”.

“Where were they (Labor) when I was subjected to horrendous sexist and misogynistic abuse scrawled all over my campaign office?” she asked.

Ms Flint singled out Labor Senate’s leader for particular criticism, saying Penny Wong knew about the treatment she was facing and yet said she was “not subjected to a co-ordinated sexist campaign”.

“She knew exactly what was going on,” Ms Flint said.

“Is it any wonder we now find out that female Labor staff have been subjected to horrific treatment within the Labor Party as well.”

PM backs Flint

Scott Morrison has praised Mr Flint for condemning the harassment she experienced during the 2019 election campaign, describing her as an “incredibly brave woman.”

“I know how brave she was because I was there with her as she endured one of the ugliest campaigns I’ve ever seen beiged against not just a woman but anyone in this country,” Mr Morrison said.

He said the Labor Party had stood by the harassment by ALP, Get Up and union supporters.

“They were aware. They saw it. They were happy to be advantaged by it and I think she’s called it out well and I think she’s an incredibly strong woman,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese (2nd L) with Senator Penny Wong, Senator Kristina Keneally, and Member for Sydney Tanya Plibersek at the March 4 Justice in Canberra this week.

Albanese responds

Anthony Albanese has denied the claim by Ms Flint that the Opposition Leader and senior Labor frontbenchers failed to condemn the harassment she experienced during the 2019 election.

Mr Albanese told the ABC the harassment against Ms Flint should not have happened, but said it was “not right” to claim that Labor participated in a coordinated attack against Ms Flint by not speaking up against the harassment.

“Anytime that I get asked about behaviour and I’m sure Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek are exactly the same, we are consistent in saying that such behaviour towards anyone in politics is completely inappropriate and should not happen,” he said.

“The people who have been named in articles as being involved in this are organisations like Extinction Rebellion and Get Up. At the same time they were, of course, protesting against Labor.”

Wong denies claims

Labor’s senate leader Penny Wong has also denied the claim by Ms Flint that she failed to condemn harassment the outgoing Liberal MP experienced.

Ms Flint also singled out Senator Wong, saying she knew about the treatment she was facing and yet said she was “not subjected to a co-ordinated sexist campaign”.

On Wednesday, Senator Wong said the harassment Ms Flint had experienced was “utterly unacceptable.”

“It is also unfair of her to seek to tie me and Tanya Plibersek to it. I would say to Ms Flint, I agree with you, let’s work together to make this a better place for women,” she said in Canberra.

“If she genuinely wants to sit down with Tanya and I to talk about how we can work together to make this a better place for women, a safer place for women, and how we can make workplaces across Australia safer for women, I’d be very happy to do so.”

“Whenever I’m asked, regardless of who the person is, about these sorts of behaviours I would say they are unacceptable.”

Education spokeswoman Ms Plibersek told parliament on Tuesday that she had “no prior knowledge” of the Get Up campaign against Ms Flint.