Trolls take their toll as online abuse turns women off politics

August 5, 2026 — 5:52pm

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In 1984, under the guiding hand of the late senator Susan Ryan, the first female Labor federal cabinet member, the federal parliament passed the Sex Discrimination Act, a largely successful attempt to ensure that women had the same access to jobs, services and accommodation as men. It also made sexual harassment illegal in Australia.

Some believed the legislation helped redefine the role of women in Australian society.

But five decades later, the abuse remains subliminal, surfacing mainly when politics, gender and power intersect and provoke out-of-touch and mostly anonymous Australians to denigrate women and put them down.

New research from nonpartisan not-for-profit........

© The Sydney Morning Herald