Fair game or too far?

It’s getting increasingly dangerous to be a politician in Australia, particularly one with a controversial profile. Things got worse when COVID was in full swing, and the referendum debate has also encouraged those who believe violence and hate speech are logical responses to political disagreement.

Independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe is the latest to go public, saying federal police have provided inadequate protection to her in the face of anonymous attacks from the far right, but she’s not the only one, with parliamentarians Linda Burney, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Malarndirri McCarthy all saying they’ve been targeted. The situation appears to be particularly bad for female Indigenous politicians, but they’re not alone, with figures as diverse as Barnaby Joyce, Andy Meddick, Mark McGowan, Kristina Keneally, David Littleproud, Jacqui Lambie and Michael Gunner all reporting serious threats to themselves (and in some cases their families), in recent years.

It’s a long way from 1917, when an egg was thrown at pro-conscription Prime Minister Billy Hughes at Warwick railway station, and local police refused to arrest those responsible, leading him to create the Australian Federal Police.

In 2022 there were 582 reports of harassment and threats aimed at federal politicians. AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw recently told Senate Estimates there had been a ‘record number’ of incidents since the last federal election, when a special unit was set up to protect parliamentarians and candidates.

At a state level things are just as bad, with nooses outside parliament for Dan Andrews just the visible tip of the extremist iceberg.

Where will it end and where did it start?

In the UK, this kind of behaviour has culminated in the murders of two MPs in recent years, and of course America’s history of political assassinations is even worse. Are we heading down the same path?

There are some local precedents, such as the murder of socialist MP Percy Brookfield in Waverton in 1921, the attempted murder of Labor’s Arthur Calwell in 1966, and the probable murder of state politician Hyman Goldstein in Sydney in 1928, but these were isolated incidents.

More disturbing is the way violent language and thinking has entered the mainstream here, particularly via the influence of Tony Abbott and his cronies, with their ‘ditch the witch’ posters and shock jock talk of drowning political opponents (especially female ones) in chaff bags.

There were reminders of this in Peter Dutton’s language last week in response to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s criticisms of his failings in government, via the investigative work of former Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon, which included details of ‘grotesque abuses’ of temporary migrants under Mr Dutton’s watch. Apparently if women are ‘angry’ then the reasons for their anger can be dismissed.

Lone wolves and dangerous trolls

After he shot Arthur Calwell and failed to kill him, Peter Kocan told police, ‘I had to do something to set me aside from all the other nobodies… I did not agree with Mr Calwell’s politics and that made it easier to choose him.’

Instead of dying in a hail of bullets, Mr Kocan went to an asylum, before becoming a successful writer. Calwell ultimately forgave him.

These days, most political attackers prefer to hide behind technology, and are stoked into action by social media, leading to ridiculous debacles such as Pizzagate. Of course politicians need to be challenged, but if the facts are irrelevant and violence is acceptable, then you’ve already failed.

Anonymity is increasingly the problem, rather than being something glorious and revolutionary, as imagined in V for Vendetta.

Whether you’re hiding behind a hood or a keyboard, if your argument is able to stand the light of day, then the least you can do is show yourself when you make it.

Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning film-maker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.

Long ago, he did work experience in Parliament House with Mungo MacCallum.