Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

FLINT (—) (): on indulgence—I thank you, Mr Speaker, and the chamber for their indulgence. Good morning, Prime Minister. I wrote two versions of this speech. Thank you, Member for Barker, here looking after me as always. Thank you. I wouldn't be here without you. I wrote two versions of this speech, and some advice was that the first was a little bit too angry. I'm happy to take suggestions, as to whether you'd like the angry version or not, but maybe you can buy the book eventually instead.

We are a different nation and a different world compared to when I gave my first speech to this place on 31 August 2016. I am vastly different too. I rose to give my first speech as a person—a person who was a proud Australian, South Australian and Liberal, and the fourth generation of my family to serve our local community in Boothby. Today, I give my valedictory speech not as a person but as a woman, having been forced time and time again over the past seven years in this place to confront and defend the fact that I am female. This has been exceptionally challenging for me. Throughout my long and interesting career, developing policy in industry associations, as a staff member in politics, as a senior Liberal Party volunteer and as a deliberately provocative newspaper columnist at the Agestill not sure how they published me—and then the Advertiser for over three years, I was never attacked as a woman. I was never reduced to a woman.

As a newspaper columnist, the only vaguely sexist comment was a letter to the editor asking if I was writing for the Advertiser or Dolly magazine. That might be something that my fellow women in the chamber understand, because we grew up with Dolly magazine, and perhaps you have to be of a certain vintage to get the reference. Before anyone tries to suggest that perhaps the internet and social media weren't invented when I was writing columns, they were. I'm old, but I'm not quite that old. At the Age and the Advertiser, I never had to put up with the repetitive sickening, sexist, misogynistic abuse and dangerous behaviour that started in the lead-up to the 2019 election and hasn't stopped since.

At my lowest point last year, after a series of events in and around this place that you could not dream up if you tried—my 'Whipsie Chicks' Jessica Anne Howard and Larnie, understand exactly what I mean—it occurred to me that all of these things were happening to me during my time, in this place, in politics, because it's up to me, as a woman, to try to fix them for all women. So today I want to suggest a few ways we can fix things for women in in public life because, as some other Chicks sang, after they'd been cancelled, 'I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down.'

My first suggestion is: the Left of politics needs to act, and that action needs to start in this place with the Leader of the Opposition. Last March, in response to an emotional speech I gave in this place, the Leader of the Opposition told the press gallery and the Australian people that he would act when sexist and misogynist dangerous behaviour was drawn to his attention. Well, he hasn't, despite further speeches I've given in this place, the letters I have written to him, and the numerous newspaper reports, especially since last December when online attacks on me reached a disgusting new low of sexism and misogyny.

It's tempting to describe the Leader of the Opposition with a single word, a four-letter word. It begins with L and ends with R. But that would be unparliamentary, so I won't. Instead, I call on him again to finally show some leadership on the issue of women's safety in public life, because it's not just me who is copping this behaviour. It's not just me who is being abused by men and some women on the Left; it's senior ABC journalists like Leigh Sales, Jane Norman and Lisa Millar, and businesswomen like Sal Grover.

I want to be very clear about the sort of behaviour that I'm talking about. Men on the Left, some of whom are public figures of influence, have done the following: stalked me; suggested I should be strangled; criticised the clothes I wear and the way I look; repeatedly called me a whiny little bitch; repeatedly called me weak, a slut, a dick—and I apologise for the language—and much, much worse over email, online, on YouTube, on Facebook, and on Twitter. They've commented that I should be raped, grudge-fucked, that I am doing sexual favours for all my male colleagues, that I should be killed, that I should kill myself, and many, many more things that I will not repeat here. These men have also consistently reminded me that I deserve everything that has happened to me.

To the Left, to GetUp, to Labor, to the unions and to the left-leaning media—you know exactly who you are— you need to finally show some leadership and put a stop to this sort of behaviour by not pretending that you will stop this sort of behaviour, because you're on the side of women, allegedly, but by actually stopping the behaviour. They have the power to do so. They have the power to lead. They have the power to stop implying that I'm the wrong kind of woman or that Senator Holly Hughes is the wrong kind of woman and that we deserve everything we get because we're Liberals and we stand up for women. If they don't, well, they're not really leaders, then, are they? I say that particularly to the Leader of the Opposition.

The second challenge that will allow women in public life to get on with their jobs is for social media companies or big tech to start to behave like corporate citizens. I did put some very colourful language in here to describe their approach, but I'm trying to maintain some standards of decency, even if they're not. We know that big tech could stop all forms of hateful abuse tomorrow if they wanted to, but we also know that they won't. Just look at their recent evidence to the Select Committee on Social Media and Online Safety. Again, I commend the member for Robertson for her incredible leadership of this committee. My submission to the select committee documents the abuse they allow on their platforms. And I will have a lot more to say about this later today when I speak on the trolling bill.

People like to say that social media is like a sewer. Experiencing the online attacks over multiple platforms, as I have since last December, I think it's more like a festering toxic sewer. But this is where I think the analogy needs to be extended. It's not so much about the sewage itself; it's about the companies that are spreading it. Big tech is the modern-day equivalent of the unregulated, greedy, big business polluters of the industrial revolution. Big tech is enabling toxic sewage to spill into the homes and the lives of innocent, hard-working Australians every single day

It took the 19th century legislators decades to clean up the waterways, the air, the streets, and public health in Britain. But they did, and lives were saved, improved and enhanced. It's the responsibility of every single person in this place to support legislation that will clean up the online sewer right now and force big tech to finally behave the same way that we demand of every corporate citizen and every business in Australia, as responsible corporate citizens. I do believe this will happen, thanks to our government and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. We are already leading the world with our online safety laws. I commend this place and all of my colleagues, Minister Paul Fletcher and the Prime Minister, for their leadership in this space.

Having seen and having personally experienced sexist and misogynistic attitudes online from other human beings, my third observation and suggestion is probably the most important. Women need all-encompassing protection from sexism and misogyny through, I think, the Sex Discrimination Act. We need to stop the abuse at the start. Women like journalists Leigh Sales, Lisa Millar, Jane Norman, Erin Molan, Natalie Barr and Van Badham, AFL player Tayla Harris and businesswoman Sall Grover should be able to do their jobs without highly sexualised abuse.

I know that women on the other side of this place, like the member for Kingston and the former member for Adelaide, Kate Ellis, copped this too. Ms Ellis devotes an entire chapter of her book, Sex, Lies and Question Time, to the online abuse of women in parliament and public roles. Ms Ellis's excellent book does a lot more than that as well. She explains how difficult it is to be a woman in this place. If you want to make it easier for your female colleagues, please read the book. It's outstanding.

This is a hard place to be a woman, whether you're a staff member, MP or senator. I want to thank most sincerely Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins and her team for their incredible work in a short period of time last year on Set the standard, the Jenkins report, which I believe will finally lead to the change that we need in this place. More broadly in society, however, women will continue to be attacked, abused, belittled, gossiped about and lied about until we have blanket protection that says it's an offence to offend, insult, humiliate and intimidate women. We know this has worked to protect other groups in our society. It's worked well. Now we need to protect women. We are half of the population. I hope everyone here today and especially those in the next parliament can give this some consideration.

My final major observation about this place is also about modern society in general. I've thought very carefully about the things that have happened to me and the things I've seen happen to others in and around this place. All of it comes back to one simple problem: a complete lack of respect for other people. This is the obvious conclusion of the less great project, the disruption of Western civilisation. They've sought to replace our institutions, our traditions and our conventions with causes that have no moral compass and no guide as how to respect your fellow human beings. The outcome is disrespect, abuse and hatred. When you replace religion and the models and ethics it has taught us with the religion of climate change, for example, when the battle of ideas is replaced with cancel culture and the lynch mob, when you tell women that we have fewer rights than men who choose to change their sex to be women, when women are abused for asserting our right to be women, when the Left celebrate being rude and disrespectful, claiming freedom of expression, when this becomes the standard, contempt creeps in, hate flourishes and society breaks down.

That's probably enough heavy duty reflection for a Wednesday morning of a double sitting week, you'll be pleased to hear! What I now want to do is briefly celebrate what my government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has done to support and protect women during our time in office, which is more than any other Prime Minister and any other government in the history of this nation. We have record funding for domestic violence strategies, child care, catch-up superannuation contributions for women and new programs for women's home ownership.

We're the first government to take endometriosis seriously. I cannot thank enough the former member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, the member for Forrest and of course the minister for health, Greg Hunt, for their incredible help and support on this issue. As such, we've launched the first ever national action plan on endometriosis. I want to acknowledge and thank Senator Anne Ruston as well. I say to all the endo warriors out there: ladies, I know there's much more to do and we will do it together.

The same goes for stillbirth. There's now the first ever national action plan on that. Again, I recognise our incredible minister for health, Greg Hunt, and amazing people like Claire Ford, who told me her story, which motivated me to fight for the change we have already achieved and we will continue to achieve.

We are the government who introduced the world-leading eSafety Commissioner online anti-trolling bill, which is before us today, and amended the electoral act to make politics safer for all of us in this place and the other. We're the government who commissioned and implemented the Respect@Work report. We also commissioned and are implementing the Foster report and the Jenkins report. Our record is something to be very, very proud of.

In terms of my local community, there's a lot I've achieved as well, and I probably could stand here for the rest of the day talking about my incredible community and volunteers and what we've done together. But, the first and probably one thing that I'm most proud of was fixing Oaklands Crossing, a 40-year-old problem for my community. It was thanks to us, a Liberal government, and particularly the minister for urban infrastructure, Paul Fletcher—Paul, thank you so much—that we fixed this and also the Goodwood, Springbank and Daws Road intersection. This is saving people hours every day between both intersections, and it's making life much safer.

Right next to the Goodwood, Springbank and Daws Road intersection is the repat hospital. This historic veterans' hospital, chapel and rehabilitation site is the site that the previous state Labor government cruelly shut down. Thanks to my lobbying, thanks to the Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments, we've reopened it and the site is once again thriving. I should apologise to the minister for health for relentlessly pursuing federal funding for this site. As you can tell, I've been a bit of a serial pest for poor Greg, but he's been very patient, and thanks to the Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments we have nation-leading dementia care at the repat, a brand new brain and spinal rehabilitation unit and, thanks to the immediate past minister for veterans, the member for Gippsland, and perhaps some more very persistent lobbying from me with the support of my incredible veterans' community in Boothby, we have one of six of the nation's veterans' wellbeing units at the repat.

Just a couple of kilometres away we also have, thanks to the Morrison Liberal government, the soon-to-be completed brand new war memorial in the upgraded Women's Memorial Playing Fields for the 21 brave nurses and their colleagues who gave their lives for our nation on Radji Beach 80 years ago today in World War II. Nearby are my Vietnam vets, and I could not be prouder that I managed to help them with their new permanent home.

There are several very different projects I was particularly passionate about that will serve my community for generations. The first—and, Prime Minister, thank you for being there to launch it—the nation-leading recycling plant that I worked very closely on with cities of Holdfast Bay, Marion and Onkaparinga. That is located on one of the most visionary waste sites I've ever seen. It is absolutely best practice, and this will improve our environment and support my community in Boothby by for generations to come.

In the arts, thanks to some more relentless lobbying by me, we will see South Australia become the gallery destination of the nation with Australia's leading Aboriginal arts and cultures gallery on North Terrace; a brand new gallery for Hans and Nora Heysen in Hahndorf, and I thank Lyn and John Nitschke for their relentless lobbying of me to get support for this project; and a brand new visitors' centre at historic Carrick Hill in my electorate, and I acknowledge South's most generous philanthropists, Ian and Pamie Wall, for their generous support of this project as well and Richard Heathcote for all his work.

On a very local level, I've worked so closely with my incredible local volunteers at the Sturt CFS group, our four Surf Life Saving Clubs, our local RSL groups, Lions and Rotary, environmental groups, our First Nations people on sites and volunteers, sports clubs, community groups, mayors and councillors and council staff, and we have delivered so many upgrades for our local community. Revisiting all of these varied projects, and I haven't even mentioned the Flinders Link train line extension or the Fullarton and Cross Roads upgrade, I'm starting to realise why I feel a little bit tired.

I also realised last week that during my time in parliament I have moved further and further to the right in the chamber. I first sat next to my twin, the member for Robertson, and then right behind the Prime Minister. I moved to the right with my wonderful, wonderful whips, Bertie Bert and Rowan, and now find myself here in National heartland. I've got to say: being a country girl at heart, this is a very comfortable place for me to be. I want to thank the current Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, and the immediate past Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, for their wonderful support over the years. However, before anyone gets any ideas about a potential defection or future path for me, I'm standing here today in double blue for a reason: I'm a passionate Sturt supporter. I am talking about not the seat of Sturt—although I'm very happy to see it in Liberal hands, James!—but the Sturt footy club. I look forward to getting to a lot more games when I achieve my freedom. But, more so, I am a Liberal through and through—and I am also a staunch coalitionist, so I am happy to be sitting here with my National Party colleagues. To all my dear friends in the Nats: we can't do it without you, and vice versa. Long may we remain the most successful coalition and parties of government in Australia and the world. Just don't try and re-establish yourselves in South Australia any time soon, because the member for Barker, the member for Grey and I will stop you at the border!

When people ask me why I'm a Liberal, the simplest and easiest answer is: I was born Liberal. I will always continue to do all I can for the party in my voluntary roles, as I've always done—first as chairman of the rural and regional council, and I thank the member for Barker for strongly encouraging me into that position, and now as president of the women's council, where I'm instilling processes, procedures and traditions that I hope will last for generations. No doubt my dear friend Nick Cater will soon start pitching to me to write a fourth edition of Gender and politics, about women in the Liberal Party, after the federal election. And I acknowledge the incredible class of 2019, where we achieved fifty-fifty representation of men and women.

Finally—we're almost there!—I need to say some specific thank yous. Thank you, of course, to the people of Boothby for giving me this incredible privilege of serving you. I have never worked harder in my life and we have achieved so much, as I've outlined. Thank you. The kindness and generosity, and the cards, flowers, emails and gifts that flooded my office when I announced I was retiring, were really humbling. To my dear friends and supporters, including the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, Peta Credlin, Peter, Jenny and Anna Hurley, Matthew, Charmaine and Sue Binns, Tony Franzon, Vicki Franzon and John Lewis, Greg and Marguerite Evans, Nick Cater, Dr Susan Evans, Dr Louise Hull, Dr Jane Woolcock, Dr Graham Tronc, David 'Penbo' Penberthy—if he hadn't called me and said: 'Do you want to tell your story, Nic? I know you've had a hard time', I probably never would have—and Janet Albrechtsen, who stand up for women time and time again: thank you.

I turn to my Liberal Party volunteers. To my longest-serving president, Archbishop John Hepworth, who the PM dubbed 'the Bishop of Boothby', which was very appropriate, and who sadly passed away a few months ago and who was one of my best supporters: we miss you, John, and thank you. To Jenny and Vern Hembrow, Geoff and Lis Bartlett, Garry and Sue Dolman, Rhys and Helen Roberts, Brenton and Kay Griffiths, Fran and Dennis Southern, and Helen and all the Ronsons: thank you. And thank you to my staff: Jane; Janice; Georgia; Camilla; Zane—who you all know through his wonderful work as the whip's assistant; Eleanor, my constituent whisperer; Amie; Sue; most especially, Alexander Hyde, without whom I could have achieved none of this; and, more recently, Fiona Lee, who has been a godsend and to whom I will be eternally grateful for supporting me and the Boothby EO through our final months.

South Australia also, sadly, lost Professor Dean Jaensch a few weeks ago. We're all thinking of him and his wife, Helen—two incredibly kind and generous people. Without Dean, without Professor Haydon Manning and Andrew Parkin from Flinders University, and without an excellent education from my tiny little Kingston Community School primary school under principal Grant Murray, and from Pembroke School under Malcolm Lamb, I doubt I would have ended up here. These wonderful teachers taught me how to think, not what to think. I worry for our students today, especially in our universities, but I acknowledge the minister, the member for Wannon, and the very important work he began and we will continue.

To all our incredible Parliament House staff—the attendants, clerks, security guards, Comcar drivers, catering staff and everyone: thank you. You're all such amazing and kind people, and I will really, really miss you and our chats. Thank you to our wonderful whips team—Bert, Rowan, Drummy, Kenny—to our staff—Leonie, Zane and my amazing 'whipsie chicks', Jess and Larnie—and to those whips opposite—the member for Fowler, the member for Werriwa and the member for Lalor—with whom we make this place run seamlessly. You do not understand what the whips do until you have to do the job; believe me, we are very important people! The Speaker probably appreciates that more than anyone.

I would not have been here in this place in the first place were it not for the member for Barker. I've cried a lot less during this speech because during my maiden speech he paid me out and said, 'Gee, that was a lot of crying, Nic,' so I'm trying hard not to cry quite so much today. Tony, thank you for your support, especially during my campaigns. And to everyone from Barker FEC; Mackillop SEC; Mount Gambier, Millicent and Kingston SE; branches, and also to the member for Waite—thank you; I couldn't have done this without you. To Senator Alex Antic, who was so kind, supportive and protective during the 2019 campaign, thank you. And congratulations to you and Edwina on the arrival of Oscar. There are a couple of other ladies I know in this place who are also precisely the sorts of women who are incredibly tough and staunch defenders of women, my good friends Senators Claire Chandler and Amanda Stoker. I'm so proud of you both.

Okay. We're almost there. Sorry, Tony; the crying's building up now. To my very best friend, Jano—who is now partnered with Jason and has just had baby Amelia—thank you for still being here after seven long years. To my newer friends Amber, Gemma, Caro, Parnell, Sunita—wow; how lucky am I to have ladies like you in my life! You've managed to get me through the past 12 months. Thank you.

Thank you to my parents, Evan and Glenys, for all their support. To dad and his brother Tim, who I know are incredibly relieved that they will never have to put another corflute up on Shepherds Hill Road—they're still complaining about it, and that was in the 2016 campaign—thanks, Dad and Tim, for your support. And to my family, Johnny, Cat, Brodie, Elijah, Dylan, Alexis, Belinda, Josh, Hugo, Gwenyth and especially Simon, Rachel, Fraser, Alana and Edward, I'm so glad to finally have someone in Adelaide with me, and I can't wait to spend more time with you. To the House, thank you for your indulgence; to all of my amazing colleagues, my class of 2016, thank you; Prime Minister, thank you for your leadership. I look forward to watching on the television, but seeing us return to this side of the parliament after the next election. Thank you.

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