Toxic Canberra too much for MP Nicolle Flint

MP Nicolle Flint is quitting politics in a bombshell move highlighting the toxic treatment of women in Canberra, as new rape claim emerges.

SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint.

Liberal MP Nicolle Flint is quitting politics and will not contest the next election in a bombshell move that highlights the toxic treatment of women in Canberra.

Ms Flint — who was hounded, stalked, and labelled a slut and a prostitute in the vicious 2019 campaign in the South Australian seat of Boothby — has decided she can no longer tolerate the pressures of political life as a female MP.

Responding to the news on Saturday, Minister for Finance Simon Birmingham said Ms Flint had become a “particular target for certain Greens and left activists out there.”

“Those people ought to take a good long hard look at themselves and what they have done,” he said.

He said the Liberal Party “respect and understand” Ms Flint’s decision, describing her as a “passionate advocate” who saw “appalling behaviour towards her.”

“Nicolle has shown incredibly strength in championing and advocating such difficult and sensitive and personal issues,” he said.

Drawing on a personal experience of a rock being thrown through his window when campaigning himself, Mr Birmingham called to end hostility towards politicians.

“Let’s actually all try to commit to having a better and safer political debate, as Nicolle had wished for,” he said.

“That is a task that falls upon all of us - not just those in parliament, not just those running for parliament, not just those reporting on politics.”

Ms Flint is also personally devastated by the events of the past fortnight, during which rape ­allegations have hung over parliament, and has decided she no longer wants any part of ­Canberra life. Former Liberal staffer Brit­tany Higgins’ allegation — first made public on February 15 — that she was raped by a colleague in the ­office of then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds has led to the emergence of a string of claims about inappropriate sexual behaviour in politics.

The latest, published first by the ABC on Friday, was made against an unnamed cabinet minister and related to a historical rape that ­allegedly occurred in 1988, before the man entered politics.

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young sent the anonymous complaint to the The Australian Federal Police. The alleged victim was last year assisting police with inquiries but has since died.

Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek has also been sent correspondence relating to historical rape allegations against a frontbench colleague, adding to an increasingly febrile environment within parliament.

Ms Flint, 42, is a former adviser to Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson, and an Institute of Public Affairs fellow. She will have held Boothby for just two terms when she walks away from politics.

Scott Morrison had been ­advised of her plans not to recontest her seat but her fellow MPs had no knowledge of her intention to walk away. Ms Flint informed her branch members of her decision on Friday night, which sent shockwaves through South Australian Liberal ranks and sparked a scramble for preselection. Her ­departure ­reflects not just her continuing distress at the treatment she faced from GetUp!, Labor and unions in the 2019 Boothby campaign, but also her disappointment at some Liberals within the moderate-dominated state division who she believes did little to protect her and in some cases were actually willing her to fail as a party conservative.

Responding to her decision on Friday night, the Prime Minister said: “The public attention from being a parliamentarian does sometimes attract unacceptable behaviour, and I have admired ­Nicolle’s efforts to stand against the bullying and nastiness of particular groups and individuals.”

Ms Flint’s statement to be ­released publicly on Saturday ­offers no comment as to why she is leaving and she told The Weekend Australian she would not make any further comment.

“I have informed the Liberal Party of Australia (SA division) that I will not be renominating for the seat of Boothby at the forthcoming federal election,” her statement reads. “It has been an honour to represent the people of Boothby over two terms and I am grateful to them, and to my Liberal Party members, for giving me this ­opportunity.

“ I will continue to work hard to serve my local community until the election … I will also continue to work hard on policy issues I have championed in my time in parliament such as endometriosis, stillbirth, improved road and rail infrastructure, the arts and ­protecting Australia from ­foreign interference and predatory foreign investment.

“I will work to support the candidate who is preselected by my Liberal Party members to ensure we return a Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, to guide our ­nation out of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”

As an IPA fellow and party conservative, Ms Flint has come under intense criticism on social media and faced frequent abuse from her critics, who have ­accused her of denying climate change and attacked her past support of former prime minister Tony Abbott.

She has written about her distress at abuse she faced from commentators including former Fairfax columnist Mike Carlton who wrote of her during an ­appearance on ABC’s Q&A that she was a “liberal shill” who ­deserved to be strangled.

Last year Ms Flint responded to a column by an Adelaide ABC broadcaster ridiculing her ­appearance, shoes and hair by posting a video of herself dressed in a plastic garbage bag and asking whether that would be a more appropriate outfit for her to wear as a female MP.

The Weekend Australian understands that Ms Flint’s decision to leave was galvanised two weeks ago when the radical environmental group Extinction Rebellion surrounded her southern Adelaide office for the third time and painted over nine of her windows with graffiti while her staff were inside.

She had documented the fears she faced during the 2019 campaign in a submission to the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and again in a speech to parliament in November where she talked about the sexualised abuse she faced as a female MP.

“I did not put up my hand so I could be the sole candidate ­heckled, mocked and shouted down by GetUp, Labor and union members at community meetings,” Ms Flint told parliament. “I did not put up my hand so my election posters could be defaced with the words ‘skank’ and ‘blow and go’, suggesting I was a prostitute charging $60 an hour.”

Ms Flint revealed her distress at her treatment in the 2019 election campaign in an interview with The Australian. “This was a campaign to ­destroy me personally, a concerted attack to ­destroy me mentally,” she said at the time. “They wanted to get me to a point where I could not function as a candidate, where I was afraid to go out. It was a campaign that has very serious ramifications for how we conduct politics in this country.

“We regard ourselves as an open and civil society. Instead, I ended up feeling unsafe for much of the campaign. I credit both GetUp and the unions for creating an environment where abuse, ­harassment, intimidation, shouting people down and even stalking became the new normal.

“By running such an abusive personal campaign in my seat, GetUp and the unions created an environment where all these things were not only possible, but probable.”

Boothby has been held by the Liberals since 1949. It attracted unprecedented attention at the 2019 campaign as it was the only ­Liberal-held electorate in the state regarded as winnable for Labor. But Ms Flint held the seat with a 1.3 per cent margin.