Threats against Australian politicians have risen fourfold since 2020, ABC reports

Threats against Australian parliamentarians have risen fourfold since 2020, ABC News reported on 21 October, citing Australian Federal Police data. The figures have drawn renewed attention after independent MP Helen Haines was struck by a four-wheel drive outside her electorate office in Wangaratta, Victoria, on 19 October. Police had not stated a motive for the attack, Reuters reported.

The AFP said 41 people were charged in the past year with offences relating to threats against parliamentarians, according to ABC. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said authorities were charging almost one person a week for targeting Commonwealth parliamentarians or high office holders. ABC also reported that threats to candidates during the 2025 election were 17 per cent higher than during the previous campaign.

How the AFP figures measure rising threats

A 2025 parliamentary report found that 85 per cent of federal lawmakers and staff surveyed had experienced violent, threatening or volatile behaviour, Reuters reported. Nearly half of those respondents said such incidents occurred more than once a month. The accounts included assaults, spitting, intimidation and objects thrown at them.

Warnings about political violence preceded Haines attack

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation chief Mike Burgess warned in 2021 of considerable volatility in the security environment and described politically motivated violence as ‘flashing red’ in 2025, according to Reuters. On 20 October, he said ASIO had seen direct correlations between inflamed language, heightened tensions and acts of violence. Those wider warnings do not establish why Haines was attacked.

Health Minister Mark Butler told Channel Nine’s Today Show that hate, disrespect and intolerance had become more visible in political debate, Reuters reported. Opposition Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who also has an office in Haines’ electorate, said threats of violence against politicians were increasing. Reuters said Haines had suffered major injuries, including the loss of a leg, and doctors were working to save her other leg.

A 2025 McKinnon Institute survey cited by ABC found that nearly 9 per cent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that extreme measures, such as violence, could sometimes be justified to advance a cause. That figure records stated attitudes, rather than acts of violence.