When Catherine King was elected to federal parliament 25 years ago, she would spend plenty of time in the open with constituents: chatting to them across her reception desk and travelling around her regional Victorian electorate with a caravan that doubled as a mobile office.
asserted
that → elect → office
“That now has changed,” she said, in one of several interviews with the ABC this week.
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she → change → ABC
“There’s now Perspex barriers between you, there are security cameras and a security entrance as well – and that is just from the office perspective.
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that → ’ → perspective
I don’t do mobile offices in my caravan any more.
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I → do → caravan
It was not deemed safe to do because there’s no second [exit] point for me to go if something happens.”
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something → deem → ?
Now a federal minister, King still makes an effort to stand outside local markets on the weekends, where people can approach her.
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people → make → her
“The very job of a politician is actually talking and listening to people,” she said.
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she → talk → people
But it’s not rare to be accosted on the street by people who can be verbally aggressive.
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who → ’ → people
King no longer advertises where she’s going to be in advance, and more of her interactions with people are over the phone.
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more → advertise → phone
“I don’t think you could talk to any MPs, male or female, that wouldn’t say that they’ve had some sort of death threat at some point,” she said.
uncertain
she → think → point
Those threats are escalating.
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threats → escalate → ?
Some come through telephone answering machines overnight – they can be the first thing staff hear when they arrive in the morning.
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they → come → morning
King recalled a time that a former MP made comments about her on his Facebook page.
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MP → recall → page
“Suddenly, I had the AFP saying someone locally had put my home address up on a Telegram chat group, and saying ‘we should, we’ll sort her out, we’ll get her’,” she said.
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she → have → her
This was just one of dozens of anecdotes that MPs across the political divide shared this week, as Monday’s attack on independent MP Helen Haines has emphasised the increasingly risky political environment.
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attack → share → environment
Rising threats
Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett on Wednesday said that her national security investigation teams were charging almost one person every week, for targeting federal MPs or high office holders.
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teams → rise → MPs
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spent weeks away from his Sydney residence this year as the government built a blast-resistant safety bunker in Kirribilli House.
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government → spend → House
King said her cabinet colleague Chris Bowen has had to enlist personal protective services because his climate change portfolio is so contentious.
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portfolio → say → services
Some MPs have been issued personal duress alarms and their staff have to complete security training.
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staff → issue → training
Homes are regularly assessed by officials from the AFP and Home Affairs department.
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Homes → assess → department
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson this week said she has taken on full-time protection because of increased threats, something she hasn’t required since 1998.
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she → say → 1998
Her colleague Barnaby Joyce revealed he had been in a disturbingly similar situation to the attack on Haines.
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he → reveal → Haines
“I’ve also been in a position where a person has done a U-turn on the road and have flown across in their car to attack me,” Joyce told ABC radio.
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Joyce → do → radio
[I had] personal protection with me, federal police with me, and they jumped in front of the guy and put their hand on his bull bar.”
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they → have → bar
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie was recently told he needed security upgrades at both his home and electorate office.
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he → tell → home
“The Minister for Home Affairs approached me about that and said that I had been identified.
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I → approach → that
It was over the last six months, particularly, that I’ve come under sustained abuse online,” Hastie told the ABC’s 7.30.
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Hastie → come → 7.30
Even as an independent senator for the ACT, David Pocock has been forced to move home.
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Pocock → force → ACT
“It just seemed like everyone knew where I lived and things got ... yeah.
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things → seem → ?
I mean, there were a couple of incidents,” Pocock said on Wednesday.
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Pocock → mean → Wednesday
“What we’ve seen this week and what we all know is that what I cop is nothing compared to what my female colleagues cop on a daily basis.
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colleagues → see → basis
And if you want to hear stories of harassment, and of just vile phone calls, emails, comments – talk to basically any female MP.”
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you → want → MP
Female MPs often face particularly gendered, sexualised and violent threats and abuse.
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MPs → face → threats
“I couldn’t even count the number of death threats, rape threats that I’ve had over the years,” Labor minister Tanya Plibersek told 7.30.
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Plibersek → count → 7.30
Plibersek doesn’t advertise where she’s going to be on social media, and chooses instead to letterbox her local community.
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she → advertise → community
She will post photos after she’s left an event, rather than during, if there isn’t security around.
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she → post → event
Unfortunately, abuse has always come with the job.
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abuse → come → job
Years ago, someone came in person to her house, and slipped a note under her front door saying they hoped her children died of painful cancers.
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children → come → cancers
“The thing that’s changed most is the industrial scale of that abuse now.
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that → change → abuse
And there’s always been abuse, but I am shocked by the tenor of it,” Plibersek said.
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Plibersek → shock → it
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
