Stop weaponising shocking attack on Helen Haines MP

Socialist Alliance condemns the terrible attack on Helen Haines MP and we send our best wishes to her and her family.

This shocking incident had been politically weaponised even before the facts were established; the corporate media and some MPs went looking to find someone to blame.

The Zionists and right-wing commentators were quick to blame the pro-Palestine movement, because the alleged perpetrator — along with the majority of people in Australia — was critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It has become stock in trade for mainstream media to brand critics of Israel as “extremist”.

We now know the alleged perpetrator suffered from poor mental health and that their family was friends with the Haines family. 

As pressures mount around housing affordability and the rising cost of living, poorly resourced mental health services, especially in regional and rural Victoria, may contribute to anti-social behaviour.

The 2021 Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System made 65 recommendations and nine interim recommendations. These largely remain unfunded or not implemented, despite the Victorian Labor government promising to do so.

An independent report earlier this year made 270 sub-recommendations — only 54 have been fully implemented.

Right-wing influencers and the manosphere are also playing a role in influencing a layer of more vulnerable people to take on extreme and conspiracist views.

Data from Women for Election shows that online abuse towards those in elected positions is negatively impacting those in office, those running for office and those considering doing so. Just under 90% of women surveyed reported experiencing online abuse or intimidation connected to their political participation.

No one should be threatened or made to feel fear for themselves or their family members.

This attack on Haines is happening in the context of one woman a week being killed by a current or former partner in Australia. Despite advocacy and mass mobilisations to stop violence against women, misogyny is still pervasive.

Abuse and threats of violence towards women are also on the rise.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party has been aggressively whipping up hate and division. Its scapegoating of vulnerable groups, based on ethnicity, religion, immigration status, gender and ability, as the “cause” of societal problems is part of the political context.

The major parties are contributing to this divisiveness, either through policy or rhetoric. This is being exacerbated by the mainstream media’s clickbait.

As a result, it is not just elected representatives who are being targeted with threats and violence; people are being emboldened by divisive politics to target already marginalised groups with racial, gendered or other violence.

There are solutions, but One Nation doesn’t have them. And while the major parties steal One Nations’ immigration policies, they help fuel the tinderbox atmosphere of fear and hate.

The mainstream parties pander to the extremist right, because it helps them divide and rule.

[Sue Bolton is a Socialist Alliance councillor on Merri-Bek City Council and is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Broadmeadows in the Victorian election. Sarah Hathway is a former City of Greater Geelong Councillor and the Socialist Alliance candidate for Lara in the Victorian election.]