E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
RADIO INTERVIEW  
ABC SYDNEY
TUESDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2026 

Topics: HELEN HAINES

HAMISH MACDONALD: The Minister for Social Services and the Member for Sydney is Tanya Plibersek. Good morning to you. How are you doing? How are you reacting to the news?

MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, TANYA PLIBERSEK: Well, Hamish, we're obviously all very shocked by this attack on Helen Haines, and our thoughts are with her family. She's got a beautiful family that love her a lot. She would have had her staff there. She was just outside her electorate office. I know she's got many, many volunteers and supporters in Indi who would be absolutely shocked this morning. Helen Haines is just a really lovely human being. And not that something like this should happen to anyone, but the thought that it would happen to someone who is so hardworking, so decent, so universally respected across the Parliament, does make it particularly shocking.

MACDONALD: Tony Burke on AM just a short time ago, the Home Affairs Minister saying, look, everyone in politics realises now that this could be them as well. What are the thoughts that are going through your mind this morning in terms of the wider picture?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, look, I've been around for a long time, close to three decades now, and in that time, I have certainly seen threats of violence escalate. They've always been there, but the volume of them and the violence of them in recent years, I think, has really caused many of us to think that this is a job now that entails death threats as part of the job. I mean, no Australian should go to work and think that their life is at risk because of the work they do. I think this has been particularly noticeable in recent years. Like, one of the best things about our democracy, Hamish, is that you can go to the supermarket and do your shopping and a constituent can stop you and have a chat about something that they agree with or disagree with or stop you on the street. There are many parliaments around the world where citizens can barely contact their Member of Parliament. They're, you know, driving past in armoured vehicles because it's not safe for them to walk on the street as we do. It is a real undermining of our democracy. The threats that make you frightened to do street stalls or make you frightened to advertise that you're going to be in a particular location to talk to your constituents. That makes our democracy poorer. We can disagree in this country without hating each other. The Prime Minister has been talking about turning the temperature down for many years now. For several years, he's been saying it's important that we disagree respectfully, with one another. I think that's true.

MACDONALD: Yeah. I did want to ask you about how we actually turn the temperature down, but just on some of the points you were making there, have you adjusted? Have you made changes to the way you interact, the way you do things, the way you advertise or publicise what you're doing in the community here in Sydney?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I mean, I have. I still do street stalls and public functions, but I think a little bit differently about how I advertise them for sure, I would advertise them in a local area rather than just putting them on social media for anyone to see. That's just one example of how things have changed.

MACDONALD: As you point out, the Prime Minister's talked for a long time about turning the temperature down. Maybe it's not being heard, maybe that message is not working. I suspect a lot of people listening this morning are thinking through what do we as individuals do? Not just what do our politicians do to do that. What can we do?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, look, the first thing to say is what an amazing group of people who were there to help Helen Haines when she needed it. The local barber who ran out seems like put his own life at risk by intervening to help Helen. What a fantastic human being he is. Most Australians, I think, fall into that category, that they would offer help and assistance in a situation like that. That's what most people are like. For all of us, we have a responsibility to choose our words carefully. We can disagree, we can disagree strongly, but we need to focus on issues and the sort of violence that's crept into our language, particularly on social media, it has consequences.

MACDONALD: Few people on the text line saying, can you just call it. It's misogynism. What, how do you overlay the very clear gender dimensions to this stuff, noting that, you know, male politicians are targeted as well, but that statistically is more likely to be directed towards female politicians in those circumstances, it's more likely to be sexualised and it's more likely to be violent.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, well, you know, several things can be true at once. It's true that senior male politicians get death threats all the time and they're credible threats and they're taken seriously. I would observe that my younger, newer female colleagues are a particular focus of this. There is a gendered element to it, certainly. And I have to say, the thing that is different for women is that quite often death threats sit side by side with quite explicit, detailed and graphic threats of sexual violence.

MACDONALD: And what about your fellow politicians? Obviously, a lot of people getting in touch this morning, pointing the finger at One Nation. But obviously, I note that Pauline Hanson has condemned this. I mean, is there culpability here for particular politicians or parties in terms of the rancour in our politics and the way that's flowing through to community?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I think it's very important that we let the police do their work. There'll be a very thorough investigation of how this has happened, what the motivation is and so on. I don't want to comment on any of that. I would say that every one of us in Parliament has a platform. How we use that platform, the language we use, the way we disagree with each other, it's really important how we do that. And I think there has been a sort of coarsening of our political debate in recent years, not just in Australia. I would observe that this is a bit of a global phenomenon that is amplified by social media. The social media gives megaphones to people who use violent and vile language - in fact, the way the algorithms work, they preference people who use violent language. We all have a role in turning down the temperature.

MACDONALD: Tanya Plibersek, thank you very much.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.

ENDS