Ask almost any MP in Canberra, let alone those with high public profiles, and they will have a list of disturbing personal security incidents. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP View image in fullscreen Ask almost any MP in Canberra, let alone those with high public profiles, and they will have a list of disturbing personal security incidents. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Australian politics Australian MPs are facing a rising tide of security threats. Our national politics has lost its down-to-earth spirit Tom McIlroy The price of higher security for MPs is further distancing between decision makers and those who elect them
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One of Andy Burnham’s priorities when he becomes British prime minister in a few days is a review of security for members of parliament.
Away from Westminster while serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham says he has been shocked by the change in security threats facing parliamentarians during his decade absent.
Responding to the horrific death of former Conservative MP and Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe at her home in south-west England last week, the incoming Labour leader lamented the “darkened” state of the political landscape.
Social media, he said, was helping drive toxicity in public life as he called for a serious review of security settings.
A 28-year-old man has been charged over the alleged commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism in the Widdecombe case. Two other British politicians have been killed in the past decade: Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016 and the Conservative David Amess in 2021.
It would be easy to overinterpret events in the UK, or even in Donald Trump’s US, when thinking about Australia – but some of the same conditions exist here.
The rising tide of threats faced by members of parliament, their staff and families here has been described as the most dangerous security environment in decades. Ask almost any MP in Canberra – let alone those with high-public profiles – and they will have a list of disturbing incidents.
A quick call around in recent days elicited another set of worrying stories: online and in-person threats, strangers showing up at homes and offices, intimidating voicemails and social media posts and unnerving encounters involving family members, staff and volunteers.
More than a few have reported incidents to police and security agencies, including instances involving people with weapons. Many interactions have a menacing undercurrent – but also an air of plausible deniability. Some government ministers have had to close their electorate offices for long periods in recent years, while a small number have even moved out of their family homes.
The Australian federal police do much of the work of close personal protection for politicians. More than 50 police reports on a range of alleged criminal offences were made during the last federal election campaign and the AFP received 951 referrals or threats against parliamentarians in the 2024-25 financial year, an increase of more than 60% in just four years.
View image in fullscreen A new security fence was erected across the lawns outside Parliament House in 2017. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP For all its benefits in building community and providing entertainment, social media is changing the way some people interact with individuals in positions of authority and the institutions of our society.
Asio’s director general, Mike Burgess, provided h…