Threats of political violence soar in Australia’s ‘online echo chamber’

Sydney – Australia’s security chiefs had warned of “online echo chambers” fueling grievances and conspiracies and stepped up prosecutions for threats of political violence ahead of Monday’s attack on a lawmaker in a rural town.

Independent lawmaker Helen Haines, 65, underwent surgery overnight but remains in critical condition after being struck deliberately by a car in an attack that “does shake all of us,“ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

National broadcaster ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald reported she had lost a leg.

A man, 43, is in custody after Haines was hit outside her office in the town of Wangaratta, just over 200 kilometers northeast of Melbourne.

Police described it as an isolated incident with the motive under investigation by the counterterrorism team.

Acts of political violence are rare in Australia, and Albanese told the national broadcaster he wanted the country to remain a place where lawmakers can engage with people, go shopping and watch football.

But he said security needed to be “dealt with” amid a significant increase in threats.

Australia’s Human Rights Commission said the attack happened “against a backdrop of increasing polarization and threats against politicians,“ which could undermine democracy.

Threats against Australian lawmakers and electorate offices doubled between 2021 and 2025, with 1,067 incidents reported to police last year.

The Australian Federal Police formed a National Security Investigations team last October, described by police commissioner Krissy Barrett as a “flying squad of hate disruptors,“ resulting in 41 people being charged for threats against federal politicians, ministers and the prime minister.

Just this month, three men were charged by police over separate threats to politicians and government officials, and another three were sentenced by courts.

Australian Security Intelligence Organization Director-General Mike Burgess, warned last year that politically motivated violence was among the agency’s fastest growing security concerns, driven by “grievance narratives, conspiracies and online echo chambers.”

Political intolerance, violent rhetoric and polarization were also contributing to a “permissive environment of violence,“ Burgess said on Tuesday.

The lawmakers targeted are across the political spectrum and include men.

But the nature of threats directed at female lawmakers is “particularly troubling” because they are targeted because they are women, the federal police said last year.

The University of Melbourne’s associate head of psychological sciences, Lisa Phillips, said she was not surprised it was a female lawmaker who had been attacked.

Victoria’s state parliament commissioned Phillips to survey lawmakers on online abuse and stalking five years ago.

“The female politicians who responded almost ubiquitously reported experiences of either unwanted approaches, persistent unwanted contact from people, or experiences of threats or of assault,” she said.

Of the threats received by the Victorian women lawmakers, 85% were gender-based abuse, the study found.

The attack on Haines may not be linked to federal politics, Phillips added.

“If you have a grievance against the system, you don’t care which part of the system you are targeting.”