As the nation recoiled this week at the brutality of the physical attack on Independent MP Helen Haines, a small but terrible poignancy pulsed beyond public view.
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poignancy → recoil → view
For the past year, Haines has been a key Australian advocate of a groundbreaking project to map the physical and mental health risks to which public representatives are exposed in their line of work.
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representatives → map → work
The study — understood to be the largest ever undertaken into Australian MPs' mental health and apprehensions around physical safety — canvassed the experiences of 288 current and five former representatives from federal, state and local government over the past year.
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study → understand → year
Conducted by the Berlin-based Better Politics Foundation, the report titled Fit To Lead is still in draft form, due for release next month.
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report → conduct → release
But the sentiment coursing through the survey responses is powerfully encapsulated by a single anonymous MP's quote in the report's introduction, penned by the foundation's Australian-born co-CEO, Kimberly McArthur.
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sentiment → course → CEO
"We don't want to make politics comfortable, but we do want it to be safe," the MP says.
"You shouldn't have to wear a flak jacket, physical or emotional, to do the job.
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You → want → job
These words belong to Helen Haines.
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words → belong → Haines
Her office this week authorised the ABC to attribute them to her, hoping that the critically injured MP's own words could be heard among the tumult this week.
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words → authorise → tumult
Female MPs fear for safety
McArthur, who now lives in Berlin, and colleagues were horrified to hear of the attack on Haines.
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who → fear → Haines
She is a listed "champion" of and key collaborator on the study.
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She → list → study
"What happened to Helen is shocking," McArthur says.
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McArthur → happen → Helen
"But I am sorry to say that those of us who work with politicians in Australia have feared an attack like this was coming for some time."
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attack → say → time
McArthur says half of the study's female respondents reported fears for the safety of "self or family or team" had a significant or substantial effect on their wellbeing.
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fears → say → wellbeing
"When the job becomes this dangerous, the harm does not stay with the individual," she says.
"Nearly 40 per cent told us their own wellbeing had at some point stopped them speaking out on issues they believe are important.
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they → become → issues
It drives good people out of public life, and it quietly tells the next generation of leaders not to bother putting up their hand.
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it → drive → hand
"
The Fit To Lead study will be released in Australia next month by Alastair Campbell, the high-profile British podcaster, author and former adviser to Tony Blair who has written extensively on mental health and politics.
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who → lead → health
On Wednesday, Campbell spoke about Haines on his podcast The Rest Is Politics.
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Rest → speak → podcast
Campbell said Australia had always enjoyed a reputation as a safe place to be a public figure, but this was changing.
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this → say → place
The Fit To Lead report established Australian politicians now experience "more depression and anxiety than people who work in the emergency services" he said.
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he → fit → services
Life is changing for MPs
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Life → change → MPs
The late Bob Hawke, interviewed on the ABC's Kitchen Cabinet in 2014, recalled with delight an occasion when — waiting with a high-level delegation of American visitors outside the MCG for a bus to take them back to their accommodation — he was greeted by a carload of young men who rolled down the windows and yelled: "G'day Hawkie! Hawkie! You're the best!"
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You → interview → windows
"And I sad, 'Well if I'm that good, how about giving me a lift to town?'," the former prime minister recalled.
"And they said 'sure' so I just piled into their car," he said.
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he → sad → car
The journey was unremarkable — Hawke was delivered to the hotel unscathed, having spent the trip chatting with his fans and calling their mums.
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Hawke → deliver → mums
"The Americans couldn't believe it," Hawke said.
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Hawke → believe → it
"It does distinguish our country.
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It → distinguish → country
I mean, that could never happen — certainly in the United States where you're just surrounded by security and so on.
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you → mean → security
One of the great marks of this country [is] you can do that and people would have a laugh, but it wouldn't be regarded as unsafe.
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it → do → laugh
"
But life is changing for Australian MPs.
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life → change → MPs
Nearly a decade after that Hawke interview, a six-episode season of Kitchen Cabinet featured two guests who were unable to film in their own homes because of serious threats on their lives.
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who → feature → lives
Both were Indigenous — then cabinet minister Linda Burney and the independent senator Lidia Thorpe, who has faced consistent and alarming threats over her time in the parliament and has spent periods being unable to live in her own home.
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who → face → home
In the past five years, the annual rate of threats against high office holders and federal MPs recorded by the Australian Federal Police has increased from 300 to more than 1000.
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rate → record → 1000
Online and social media threats are a significant driver; one senior Coalition figure estimated this week that she referred a dozen threats a week to the Australian Federal Police.
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she → estimate → Police
Threat level hasn't dissipated
The shocking attack on Haines, for which police are yet to advance a motive although a man has been charged, has been described variously as a "wake-up call" and as a "turning point" for the Australian polity.
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man → dissipate → polity
"Helen is a non-combatant," says one parliamentary veteran, a political opponent.
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veteran → say → ?
For her to be attacked in this way is just unthinkable.
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attacked → attack → way
"
But in the days since Haines sustained her terrible injuries, the threat level for public figures has not markedly dissipated.
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level → sustain → figures
Small Business Minister Anne Aly, who earlier this month disclosed that she received 19 death threats in one week after an opposition MP told parliament she and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should be "stoned in the marketplace", says the temperature of online debate had — if anything — intensified since Haines was attacked.
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Haines → disclose → debate
“Intuitively you’d assume that the terrible thing that happened to Helen would have calmed things down,” she says.
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she → assume → things
"What's immediately happened is people jumping to conclusions — which is never a sensible thing to do — to lay blame, to identify the perpetrator: is he one of us, or one of them?"
On Thursday, Aly's electorate office received a letter declaring a bullet would be "too good" for her.
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bullet → happen → her
It was accompanied by a package of Bibles, in what Aly and staff interpreted as a statement about her faith (Aly is the first Muslim woman to serve in federal parliament).
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Aly → accompany → parliament
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
