‘Stalked and harassed’ female MP Nicolle Flint wants GetUp’s bird-dogging wings clipped

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has called out the unions, Labor and the Greens for failing to condemn the ‘appalling and un-Australian’ behaviour she was subjected to during the 2019 election campaign.

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint. Picture: John Feder

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has called out the unions, Labor and the Greens for failing to condemn the “appalling and un-Australian” behaviour she experienced during the 2019 election campaign, with the Liberal backbencher saying she was stalked and harassed.

The joint standing committee on electoral matters heard that GetUp trained its members in the practice of “bird dogging” — an American political term used to describe hounding or pursuing a candidate — in the lead up to the May federal poll.

Ms Flint, who registered one of the toughest wins of the 2019 campaign despite an all-out assault by GetUp and the unions in her marginal Adelaide seat of Boothby, said she never wanted to see the “deeply sexist and misogynistic ­attacks” she experienced repeated.

She said her office was egged, her posters defaced and she was shouted down at candidate debates. She also said she was stalked by a GetUp member, David Walsh, and had to call in SA Police to guarantee her safety.

GetUp political director ­Andrew Blake, who also appeared before the committee, was unable to confirm whether Mr Walsh was a member of the activist group.

GetUp courted controversy at the beginning of the election campaign after it issued a “hit list” of Coalition MPs whom it targeted because of their “out-of-date” views on climate change and “heartless positions” on immigration policy.

Ms Flint, who was the only ­female MP and campaigner to be targeted by the left-leaning organisation, said the aggressive behaviour took many forms and was part of a “deliberate and co-ordinated campaign against me by GetUp, Labor and the unions” to “break” her and stop her campaigning.

Ms Flint singled out Labor senator Penny Wong and MP Tanya Plibersek for not publicly condemning the behaviour.

“So I say to Senator Wong and Ms Plibersek, do all women in parliament matter, or just some women?” Ms Flint said.

“Do all women in parliament have the right to feel safe in their workplace, or just Labor people or Labor women?”

Earlier, it was heard that a GetUp advertisement asked for volunteers to help run six different workshops, including a “tactics orientated session” that specifically included “bird dogging”.

GetUp CEO Paul Oosting did not appear before the inquiry. The group was represented by Mr Blake and senior counsel Zaahir Edries, who defended Mr Oosting’s absence, declaring he and Mr Blake were best placed to provide evidence because they were ­experts on the 2019 election.

But under questioning it was revealed that Mr Blake had not been working for GetUp in the lead-up to the May poll and was in fact the state campaign manager for the NSW Greens at the time.

Ms Flint called on Labor, the Greens and GetUp to roll out codes of conduct for their campaigners to follow.

“I don’t want people discouraged from running (for office) … because they think that they might be subject to these disgusting ­attacks,” she said.