SMH · Licia Heath · Sunday 5 April 2026
Women MPs face escalating threats of violence that are driving them from public life, with systemic failures to protect them undermining the democratic talent pool.
Parliament spent two decades building security fences, metal detectors, and a moat of staffers around the building itself. Not one serious dollar went toward making the people inside it safe from the public they're supposed to serve. We've fortified the institution and abandoned the individuals — which tells you everything about what Canberra actually values. The talent pool doesn't shrink by accident, mate. You drain it by tolerating the drain.