Sexualised, violent threats: female Victorian MPs fear for their safety as they fight more than just next month’s election

The story

Source: The Guardian World · NewTimes editorial text based on the source feed.

Hostility from constituents is not new for the state’s politicians, including its premiers.

But the alleged attack on Helen Haines has sent a chill down the collective spine Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast On Monday night, Georgie Purcell shared a statement on social media in support of Helen Haines, who earlier that day had been allegedly attacked by a constituent in her regional Victorian electorate.

Purcell, a Victorian upper house MP whose region partly overlaps with Haines’s federal electorate, wrote that the alleged attack had sent chills down her spine.

Being a woman in politics, she said, had changed the way she moved through the world – where she parked her car, which route she took home, even whether she hel