WA Young Female Politicians Face Safety Threats and Abuse

Young women involved in politics in Western Australia are evaluating their safety and considering new strategies to manage risks as they encounter harassment, according to reporting from abc.net.au. The trend follows recent attacks targeting independent federal MP Helen Haines and the electorate office of Western Australian MP Hannah Beazley.

Safety Strategies at Local and Youth Levels

For 29-year-old Busselton Councillor Mikalya Love, municipal politics now requires specific security measures. I get my staff or another councillor to walk me to my car at night after council, she said, adding that police have been called to council meetings on multiple occasions. Love noted that such precautions were unnecessary during her first years on the council five years ago.

Charlotte Rawlinson, a participant in Western Australia’s Youth Parliament, stated that she and her peers face regular online and in-person abuse. Rawlinson, who identifies as a young, queer, and disabled woman, said she refuses to abandon political involvement despite the risks. We know it’s not a safe game for us to be in, but we’re going to be here anyway because we have other people we want to protect and uplift, she said.

Rawlinson also noted that a fellow member of the WA Youth Parliament, who is Muslim, faced severe online and in-person abuse for simply existing, not for anything she said. One of my fellow members, she had awful things said to her, for not only the things she said but for things she didn’t say — just for existing as a Muslim, she said.

Love added that the increase in harassment is becoming more apparent, stating, I do think that it is starting to increase because the first few years I was on council I never really gave [it] a thought. She also mentioned encountering “rage content” on social media, which she described as a deterrent for women in politics.

Partisan Divides and Widening Rhetoric

The rise in hostility extends across political affiliations. Hannah Hutton, chair of the Western Australia Young Liberals and federal vice-president of the organization, reported receiving frequent name-calling and hostile remarks. The increasing political divisiveness as a whole is really, really scary, Hutton said.

Hutton also highlighted the personal toll of the abuse, stating, I’ve definitely received a lot of name calling and things like that for being someone who’s centre right of politics. She emphasized the need for respectful dialogue, saying, The way that we counter that is with more conversations and rhetoric and respectful dialogue between all different sides.

A 2024 study by the Australian National University identified fear of online harassment and misogyny as the second largest barrier deterring young women and gender-diverse individuals from entering political life. Federal MP Tanya Plibersek told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7.30 program that parliamentary abuse has reached an industrial scale, noting she was shocked by its current tenor.

Institutional Calls for Reform

Gillard pointed to reports from current female members of parliament detailing increased threats and explicit abuse in public spaces.

Julia Gillard

National Reflection on Political Abuse

Lukas Coch, a representative from AAP, stated that the nation is in a “period of reflection” following the tragic attacks on Independent MP Helen Haines.