Hypervigilant and isolated, rural female MPs exhausted from fear

Regional women in public office say the toll of staying safe is exhausting as they travel across vast distances on high alert amid escalating violent and sexual threats.

They say they are hypervigilant while travelling across large geographic electorates with few safeguards and questioning how to continue living and working in regional and rural areas while constantly monitoring their environment.

Most are reviewing their safety measures and changing how they move in public spaces, which are often far from emergency services.

State Euroa MP Annabelle Cleeland shares her live location with her team while travelling throughout her regional electorate in north-east Victoria, but with poor phone reception in many areas, the only safety net she has is unreliable.

"You are hypervigilant to a degree that it is so exhausting," she said.

"I often have listening posts and might have 12 people having a cup of tea in different communities, and I think that as women we read people's energy very well and we can often feel that we're unsafe before we're unsafe — whether that's physical or emotional.

"Where I'm nervous about the future of our democracy is around that access of women because the abuse is so deeply personal — it's towards our children, towards our body, it's intimidating and it's so personal.

"We're having conversations around the safety of our children and there's no workplace in the world that you are put in these unsafe circumstances.

"We've somehow accepted a tolerance toward violence and abuse that's going to be really hard to come back from."

Ms Cleeland said the Victorian Parliament had seen the red flags of escalating violence, but it did not feel like the system had changed.

"The climate has changed in the last six months where it is brazen abuse and it feels like lawlessness around access to politicians," she said.

Intimidation and abuse rife

Just days after independent federal Indi MP Helen Haines was attacked in her regional electorate of Wangaratta this week, police charged a man accused of making verbal threats while armed with "nunchucks" in the electoral office of Western Australian MP Hannah Beazley.

Ms Beazley said the man allegedly asked for her by name, "demanding access" to her while brandishing the homemade weapon.

The attacks happened just weeks after the release of a survey by not-for-profit Women for Election that found nine in 10 women in politics experienced intimidation or abuse.

Chief executive Licia Heath said the findings should serve as a wake-up call for Australia.

"If capable women are choosing not to run, not to speak, or to leave public office because of relentless online abuse, Australian democracy is at risk," she said.

Animal Justice Party MP for Northern Victoria Georgie Purcell told ABC Statewide Mornings Victoria she no longer felt safe at work.

"We have been begging for action before something actually happened and now it has," she said.

"I had someone write on a post saying … he wishes it was me."

She said candidates on the hustings for the Victorian election were on edge.

"Right now, we will all be wondering how we do this for the next few weeks because I don't feel safe or comfortable at work."

Patty Kinnersly, chief executive of Our Watch, Australia's leader in the primary prevention of violence against women, said disrespect towards women was "rife".

"It's in the algorithms; it's in the public narrative," she said.

"Women in public office are "almost without exception, being threatened with rape, the rape of their children, with murder," she said.

"The conversations have become more disrespectful, violence against women is incredibly high and the rates of disrespect for women in public discourse is right off the charts."

Having lived and worked in regional Australia for most of her life, Ms Kinnersly knows the strengths of regional communities, but also the unique challenges that can come with being a woman in a public leadership role.

"In smaller communities, where everyone knows everyone, women in leadership positions, particularly politicians, can have very little anonymity,"she said.

"When your role is highly visible, threats or intimidation can have a profound impact, not only on your sense of safety, but also on your family and those around you.

"No woman should have to choose between her personal safety and contributing to public life," Ms Kinnersly said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week met with female members of caucus who were "particularly shaken" after the attack on Haines.

Federal Cooper MP and Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Ged Kearney told ABC Statewide Drive Victoria she had reflected on how people, particularly women, in public positions were not safe.

"The whole misogynistic aspect of it, sexualised threats, threats of rape. There is an added aspect being a woman I think that really heightens your vulnerability in some ways and the ways you go about your business," she said.

She now has police attend public events with her for protection after her office windows were smashed and her staff injured at events.

Victorian Nationals deputy leader Emma Kealy has taken out several intervention orders, with one currently before the courts.

When announcing her retirement in August, former Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she could "not remember a time when our foundations have felt so unsteady".

"Social cohesion is under pressure. Public debate is deteriorating. The line between truth and lie is increasingly blurred," she said.

A recent Melbourne University study found hostile attitudes toward women were driving extremism in young Australians.

The Melbourne University Misogyny, Online Radicalisation, and Youth Extremism in Australia research project surveyed 3,429 Australians about their opinions across six movements — incels, far-right, white supremacist, religious, far-left and anti-feminist extremisms.

It found attitudes that normalised and excused violence against women were "the single strongest attitudinal predictor of violent extremism".

Ms Kinnersly said the findings were "no surprise for those who have worked in the sector a long time" and one of the great falsehoods for Australian women was that they lived in a lucky country.

"The through-line of this research is disrespect for women," she said.

"All women are living in an epidemic of gendered violence."

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll said Australia had not made progress since Julia Gillard made her famous misogyny speech in federal parliament 14 years ago, noting the "Ditch the Witch" campaign directed at Ms Allan this year.

"It's sad it appears we have not made progress and that is a rallying call for everyone in public office," he said.

Ms Kinnersly said she hoped this week's horrific event would be the catalyst for all politicians to demonstrate how people could disagree respectfully.

"It means we want parents having conversations with their children about respect and that keep challenging harmful stereotypes," she said.

"Are we creating environments that are safe and equal?"

Ms Cleeland said that was what Helen Haines would want.

"The reason Helen is so loved is because of that access and she was a local — she's seen at the coffee shop, at the football, at community events, and I want us to fight for that access," she said.

"We need to defend that. This is a turning point for our democracy otherwise."

Ms Haines herself wrote on social media in December 2025, "a woman's place is in every room where decisions are made".