Hand-delivered death threat, being spat at among abuse ACT politicians cop

A hand-delivered death threat, being spat at and misogynistic abuse are just some of the incidents ACT politicians say they've experienced. 

Several members of the ACT Legislative Assembly have spoken out about the abuse they've been subjected to, following the attack on federal independent MP Helen Haines outside her Victorian electorate office on Monday.

It's not yet clear what motivated Brendan Nugent, 43, to allegedly run her down in the incident that led to both her legs being amputated. 

But the incident has renewed concerns about the safety of elected representatives across Australia, and highlighted the risks that come with their jobs.

Canberra Liberals MLA and former ACT opposition leader Elizabeth Lee said she has had to contact police twice over "very serious threats" she received.

"I had a death threat that named my daughter and my partner, and it was actually dropped at my front gate, so it came to my house," Ms Lee recalled.

"That was a pretty scary moment, and it does actually question, to me, as a parent especially, whether it's worth it.

"I have got this duty to ensure that I am prosecuting the issues that are really important to the community, but does that come at the cost of safety to my family?"

The incident came on top of the many sexist and racist comments she has received online over the past decade of representing her community.

The mother of two daughters, Ms Lee said she tried to find the balance between ignoring the comments and calling them out to show her girls that such behaviour was unacceptable.

"I try and ignore it on the whole, but at the same time I know that there are people who need to know that it's not okay," she said.

"So, every now and then I will take that and make an example out of it to call it out."

'Disturbing part of the job'

ACT Health Minister Marisa Paterson has also had some "pretty horrible" encounters with constituents. 

"Yelling abuse at you, names at you," Ms Paterson said.

Ms Paterson said she enjoyed meeting and greeting Canberrans at local shops and community events, and that "97 per cent of interactions" were "amazing".

But she said the abuse she received, both in person and online, was a "disturbing part of the job" that made her "feel very vulnerable".

"It's predominantly men. In fact, all of my examples are men," she said.

Online, Ms Paterson said the abuse had "ramped up" over the past 18 months "very, very significantly", particularly with misogynistic, violent and hateful comments. 

"The online world is a very unhappy place at the moment, I think," she said.

"Aside from having this job and needing to be there, other than that, I would have no part of it. 

"It is a pretty awful environment with the online comments."

'Tough being a woman in politics' 

For Greens MLA Laura Nuttall, it's her sexuality, gender and appearance that are often targeted on social media.

"You'll get some pretty nasty comments, which are often nothing to do with the debate [of the social media post], and everything to do with your appearance, your political leanings," Ms Nuttall said. 

"I have had my sexuality speculated on and then sort of taken through the mud. I've copped a bit of queerphobic abuse, which is never fun.

"It is tough … being a woman in politics, particularly right now."

Ms Nuttall said the comments she received could be demoralising and that she "would be lying" if she said the attack on Ms Haines hadn't scared her.

"I have occasionally … felt the impact of that in my personal life in terms of just a loss of confidence," she said.

"And at times, even though it's momentary, a little bit of loss of faith in humanity, that people could be so mean and so remorseless about it."

'Rage gets clicks'

Independent MLA Thomas Emerson said he had seen his female counterparts cop far more abuse, particularly online, than he and his male colleagues did.

"Some of the men get criticised as well, but I think criticism on the basis of policy or disagreeing is really critical, that's part of our democracy and that's what a good, vibrant democracy looks like," Mr Emerson said. 

"We should be able to disagree and disagree respectfully, debate those ideas. But when that flips into just abuse that's got nothing to do with the issue at hand, it is concerning."

He said there was a lot more political leaders could do to lead by example. 

"So there's some blame there for politicians. 

"We know that rage gets clicks and it gets picked up in traditional media, on social media, and that can lead to some pretty perverse incentives for politicians themselves and for people out in that community."

Ms Lee agreed that "we all need to take responsibility as a society". 

"Political leaders particularly have a role, but it's anyone who has a public voice including the media and the big companies that obviously are responsible for social media," she said. 

"Anyone who has the opportunity and the privilege to be able to shape public discourse and debate has a responsibility."

As politicians across the country review their security measures, these ACT MLAs are determined to remain publicly available to constituents as part of a healthy democracy. 

"It is absolutely the key part of my job that I love," Ms Paterson said.

"It is my job to be out and about talking to people, listening to people, listening to what their concerns are."

Ms Nuttall agreed that she did not want the pockets of aggression, venom and vitriol to detrimentally impact the way she did her job. 

"The whole point of being a representative is to be as accessible as humanly possible," she said.