Outgoing federal government MP Nicolle Flint delivered an emotional farewell speech on the floor of Parliament while lamenting the harassment she endured over the course of her political career.
The member for the marginal South Australian electorate of Boothby last month announced she would be leaving politics at the next election.
In her speech on Tuesday evening, Ms Flint addressed Labor leader Anthony Albanese with a well-known phrase from former prime minister Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech.
"I say to the Leader of the Opposition, I will not be lectured by you, I will not be lectured by your side of politics about the treatment of women in this place," she said.
Ms Flint became tearful as she accused Mr Albanese of crawling “down into the gutter” with his criticism of the Coalition, after he condemned Prime Minister Scott Morrison for refusing to attend the women’s March 4 Justice protest against gendered violence.
“Yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition decided to crawl down into the gutter and make this about politics,” she said.
"The safety of women in this place, of female staff and female MPs and senators should be above politics.
"The need to change the culture of our parties and of this place should be above politics."
Ms Flint accused Mr Albanese of not supporting her when she faced harassment in the lead-up to the 2019 election, and had her office vandalised.
"I ask the Leader of the Opposition, where was he and where was his predecessor and where were the senior Labor women when GetUp, Labor and the union supporters chased, harassed and screamed at me everywhere I went in the lead-up to the 2019 election?" she said.
"What I say to the Labor Party today is they may not have held the spray can to vandalise my office with sexist slurs, they may not have held the camera pointed at me by the stalker or called me evil in GetUp's phone calls, but they did create the environment in which hate could flourish.
“I say to the Leader of the Opposition, what will you do about this. I say to the Leader of the Opposition, get your own house in order. And I say to the Leader of the Opposition, this can’t be about politics anymore.
“We all bear the responsibility for change.”
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson commended Ms Flint's "brave, powerful speech" in a tweet, saying the behaviour "must stop".
Fellow Victorian senator Jane Hume said Ms Flint had "endured conduct in public office no woman should have to endure".
Prime Minister Scott Morrison referenced Ms Flint’s complaints in a statement when she announced she would quit politics last month.
"The public attention from being a parliamentarian does sometimes attract unacceptable behaviour, and I have admired Nicolle's efforts to stand against the bullying and nastiness of particular groups and individuals," he said at the time.
Ms Flint has been outspoken about the sexist attacks she has endured over her time in federal politics, which included having a male stalker and her campaign office being vandalised with the graffitied words “prostitute” and “skank”.
In July last year, she posted a video on social media of herself wearing a garbage bag, saying it was time women in public life were judged on what they stood for, “not what they look like”.
She also criticised ABC Radio Adelaide host Peter Goers for making comments about her appearance in a Sunday Mail column, in which he referenced her "pearl earrings and a pearly smile" and "vast wardrobe of blazers, coats and tight, black, ankle-freezing trousers and stiletto heels".
At the time, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young commended Ms Flint for calling out the “constant sexism dished out to women in politics”.
SA Labor Senator Marielle Smith likewise said she was “rarely in furious agreement” with Ms Flint but was 100 per cent behind her decision to call out “gendered nonsense”.
Mr Albanese said he "condemns any abuse Nicolle Flint was subjected to".
"I think anyone who engages in inappropriate behaviour should be called out and I do it unequivocally at any time against anybody. I do it consistently," he said on Wednesday.
"The fact is that in terms of inappropriate behaviour, I call it out whenever I'm asked to do so, whenever I'm aware of it. I do it consistently each and every time, regardless of who it's directed at. Nicolle Flint was subjected to very bad behaviour and that shouldn't have happened."
Earlier on Tuesday, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek told the floor she had not learnt of the campaigning against Ms Flint until recently.
"When I heard that the member for Boothby was retiring, I contacted her to tell her I regret that she's leaving politics and I wish her the best," Ms Plibersek said.
"I would like to see more Liberal women in this place, not fewer."
