Like most households, mine has a morning routine.

As we wait for our baby to wake, my partner makes me a coffee and I open an app designed to shield me from the worst of the internet. It has become as routine as checking my emails.

Social Protect automatically filters and deletes sexist, abusive and threatening comments directed at me across social media platforms. Some days, it removes thousands of comments before I even see them.

But I still check it.

I scroll through what has been caught to identify anything that needs to be escalated to police or security. A good day is when there is only sexist abuse. A bad day is when there are death threats, wishes of sexual violence or detailed fantasies about harming me.

Since becoming a mother six months ago, there are also often messages targeting my family.

It is a confronting daily ritual, but one that has become necessary to protect myself and the people I love.

Sadly, this type of abuse isn’t unique to me. As the “ditch the witch” billboards targeting the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, show, it is a daily reality for women in politics across the country – regardless of their party.

Lately, there’s been a growing........

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