00:01This comes off the back of briefings MPs held with security agencies last week following
00:07this attack on Helen Haynes.
00:09The independent member for Indi remains in hospital in Melbourne in a serious but stable
00:15condition following this attack outside her electorate office in regional Victoria last
00:21week.
00:22We know that following that incident, MPs held briefings with a number of security agencies.
00:27This included ASIO as well as the Australian Federal Police and officials from the Home
00:33Affairs Department.
00:34And it appears that those briefings have indeed actually led to some concrete actions overnight
00:39in Senate estimates.
00:41We heard from the Finance Department that the electorate offices of nine MPs will be receiving
00:47security upgrades after they raise concerns about the level of protection that they're
00:53currently receiving.
00:54We know that this has been a real concern for a number of MPs.
00:58They say they feel safe here at Parliament House, but they don't feel as safe when they're
01:02out and about in the community.
01:03And we know that MPs have been facing rising threats.
01:06And this attack on Helen Haynes has really brought that to the fore in recent weeks.
01:12The Finance Minister, Katie Gallagher, was asked this morning if we can expect to see more
01:18electorate offices get upgrades.
01:19And she suggested that that's likely the case.
01:22Take a listen.
01:24We've had a number of feedback last week around some concerns individual MPs and senators had
01:30about the safety of their electorate office.
01:32Those are being expedited in terms of addressing those problems.
01:36But I would think, you know, security for members of Parliament more broadly across, you know,
01:43work, home and out and about in the community is something that's been raised consistently
01:47in the last week.
01:48And we have to have a think about it.
01:50Jack, MPs are also turning to AI to improve their safety online.
01:55Can you tell us about that?
01:56Yeah, that's right, Gemma.
01:58Rather, a number of Labor MPs are using artificial intelligence, a particular tool that essentially
02:04allows them to screen comments made on their public social media accounts.
02:09We know that MPs receive a number of abusive messages on those accounts.
02:14And new data from this tool, it shows that half of the more than 460,000 comments analysed
02:21between July and October were classified as abusive.
02:25To put some context around this, around 22 Labor MPs and senators are using this technology.
02:31About 190,000 of the screen comments were considered personal attacks.
02:37So this is analysis from 22 MPs' accounts.
02:40Facebook carried about 94% of all comments, of which 51% were considered abusive, compared
02:48to 42% of the small number of comments on Instagram and 21% of comments on TikTok.
02:55So this isn't just an issue that's affecting MPs in the real world.
02:58It's also an issue impacting MPs in the virtual world as well.
03:02One of those MPs and senators, rather, using this technology is the Finance Minister and
03:07Women's Minister, Katie Gallagher.
03:09And she spoke about how women are really bearing the brunt of these abusive messages.
03:14Take a listen.
03:15It's largely being used by women at the moment, although men are able to use the tool if they
03:20choose.
03:21But I think all MPs and senators get this abuse and threats of violence.
03:27But the nature of abuse towards women, members of parliament, is slightly different.
03:32So it tends to be more sexualised in nature, more threats around harming your children and
03:37your family.
03:38And I think that's what we're capturing in this data.
03:41So that's the Finance Minister, Katie Gallagher there.
03:44She's one of those 22 Labor MPs and senators using this AI technology to screen for abusive
03:51comments on their social media pages.
03:54Of course, it doesn't just help the MPs and senators who use those social media pages.
03:59It also helps the staff of those politicians as well.
