If Pauline Hanson can wise up, surely everyone else can too

October 24, 2026 — 5:00am

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You’ve heard many tributes to Helen Haines. You’re about to hear many more. Don’t be fooled. Australia is on the brink of missing the moment. If so, nothing significant will change. We’d not be returning to business as usual. We’d be descending into violence as foretold.

Some of the specifics of the attack on her may allow an easy excuse for inaction. The alleged assailant apparently had a history of mental illness. You can already hear the argument for a fatalistic complacency: “Ah, so he’s some random madman, it’s not politically motivated after all.“

Even if that turns out to be the case, it misses the point entirely. Several points.

The first is that, if mental illness is a factor, that’s a part of Australia’s problem, not an excuse for ignoring it.

Second. The overarching reality is that our society has descended into a new era of disrespect, distress and danger. Authority figures, including members of parliament, are not the only targets. But they’re the biggest. They’re increasingly at risk.

Man arrested over alleged nun-chuck threat at WA MP's office

Even if this dreadful mangling of the blameless Helen Haines hadn’t happened, widen this week’s news aperture a bit. Two days after the attack on Haines, an angry man walked screaming into the electoral office in Perth of Hannah Beazley, a minister in the West Australian government and daughter of Kim Beazley. Police allege that the man was armed with two sets of improvised nunchucks and threatened staff. In court, the accused said he was carrying drumsticks, not nunchucks. He had a history of mental illness.

On the same day, a man laughing maniacally walked into the electoral office in Brisbane of the federal Minister for Communications, Anika Wells. He pointed a toy gun at the receptionist’s head. Draw your own conclusions about his mental wellness.

There are about 20 cases before the courts of people accused of threatening the life of the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, as my colleague Paul Sakkal disclosed this week.

One after another this week, MPs told reporters that they’d been hit with dozens, even hundreds of threats against their lives, their families’ lives and their staffs. Women MPs routinely are threatened with rape. Independent senator Fatima Payman said she’d referred more than 100 threats to police, with seven of the cases now before the courts.

Rape and death threats shouldn’t be dismissed as a normal part of my job

Amanda CohnGreens member of the NSW upper house

Greens member........

© The Age