Eleven MPs from across the political spectrum who served in 2023 spoke to researchers about their experiences of harassment, misogyny, racism, and online trolling. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Better protection is needed for our parliamentarians to prevent online death threats from becoming a reality, according to a new study.
Recently, we’ve seen Minister Shane Jones and his wife Dot accosted at an airport, increased security for Mayors Wayne Brown and Tania Tapsell, and death threats aimed at Green MP Benjamin Doyle.
University of Otago, Wellington research out today shows female Members of Parliament are being threatened with weapons, and with rape, and subjected to death threats.
Eleven MPs from across the political spectrum who served in 2023 spoke to researchers about their experiences of harassment, misogyny, racism, and online trolling.
Of the MPs, aged between 40 and 70: five had less than five years in the role; three had five to 10 years of experience; and three had more than 10. Five had held party leadership positions. They constituted 21% of female MPs at the time.
All identified instances of harassment during their time in Parliament.
They spoke of feeling unsafe, powerless, being followed, and receiving death threats “all the time”.
One MP described receiving “deeply, deeply vile stuff”, including a threat to cut her throat.
Another told researchers “[threats of] rape just get thrown about all the time”.
Two participants gave accounts of female colleagues being threatened with firearms or bombs, including that their electorate office would be blown up. One witnessed a colleague being physically attacked.
Multiple respondents spoke of being careful when out in public, changing their behaviour, always looking over their shoulder, and not wanting to even go to the supermarket.
One described “seeing the world differently” after receiving death threats. When doing events she “would scan the room for like, frankly, for lone white men”.
They spoke of increased vigilance, the employment of security personnel, limiting information shared about family, using GPS trackers, carrying alarms, and ensuring safety measures are in place for public appearances.
One spoke of how they felt their heart in their chest when a man pulled out a plastic gun and pointed it at them in the street, not knowing at first that it was an imitation.
The emotional impact of harassment amongst the group was often profound. The most severe psychological impacts included flashbacks and suicidal thoughts. The effects on their families and staffers were also a common theme.
And it’s not just outside the Beehive where female MPs have felt unease.
One mentioned comments made by a male peer “designed to humiliate” to make the man “feel better”.
“And I cannot tell you how profoundly it impacted me ... the clear and present danger to female MPs is from within the tent, as well as outside,” they said.
Another spoke to the culture at Parliament, about being in a lift with three male colleagues who were making inappropriate, sexualised comments.
Parliament’s “patriarchal structure” was mentioned - one felt the harassment of male MPs was taken seriously, whilst harassment of female MPs was minimised.
Multiple respondents mentioned how things have improved since we “stopped having a female Prime Minister”.
One MP told researchers, “… it’s relentless – there’s not a break from it. There’s not a single post that I’ve [posted] that doesn’t have misogynistic comments or racist comments on it … and then you add to that, death threats … no one, no one prepares you for that.”
Senior author Professor Susanna Every-Palmer told The Front Page that female MPs are twice as likely to get death threats as their male counterparts -and almost six times as likely to have their family threatened.
“MPs did talk about being scared, being afraid for their own safety, the safety of others, and also experiencing post-traumatic symptoms in relation to some of these threats,” she said.
Every-Palmer said a multi-faceted response is needed - and that New Zealand should take on board recommendations from the Jo Cox Foundation in the United Kingdom.
They include establishing a central body to monitor and co-ordinate the response to abuse, developing guidelines for police and parliamentarians, and updating New Zealand’s legislation on online violence.
“Some of the things that we would recommend is more orientation and cyber safety training for politicians at induction, increased resources for them for home and office security support for the staff,” she said.
MP for Batley and Spen, Jo Cox, was murdered in 2016 by a white supremacist in a politically motivated attack in the run-up to the Brexit referendum. Her killer yelled “Britain first” before shooting and stabbing her in front of constituents.
Cox’s sister, Kim Leadbeater (now a Labour MP for her sister’s constituency), told the BBC in January that MPs face more severe abuse than when her sister was killed.
When asked whether New Zealand could see a similar situation here, Every-Palmer said: “It’s a small risk, but it is a risk”.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the vitriol our female MPs face.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The changes are open for consultation from tomorrow.