The high-stress nature of working in politics is increasingly taking a toll on staff and politicians. But an additional threat to the personal wellbeing and safety of politicians resides outside Parliament, and the threat is ubiquitous: online violence against women MPs.

Since her election in 2017, Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman has been subject to persistent online violence.

Ghahraman’s resignation following allegations of shoplifting exposes the toll sustained online violence can have on a person’s mental health.

In an interview with Vice in 2018, Ghahraman expressed how the online abuse was overwhelming and questioned how long she would continue in Parliament.

Resigning in 2024, Ghahraman said in a statement:

it is clear to me that my mental health is being badly affected by the stresses relating to my work

and

the best thing for my mental health is to resign as a Member of Parliament.

Ghahraman is not alone in receiving torrents of online abuse. Many other New Zealand women MPs have also been targeted, including former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, National MP Nicola Willis and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

Words can not only hurt, but they can seriously endanger a person’s wellbeing.

Online violence against women MPs, particularly against women of colour, is a concerning global trend. In an Australian study, women MPs were found to be disproportionately targeted by public threats, particularly facing higher rates of online threats involving sexual violence and racist remarks.

Similar online threats face women MPs in the United Kingdom. Studies show that women of colour receive more intense abuse.

Male politicians are also subject to online violence. But when directed at women the violence frequently exhibits a misogynistic character, encompassing derogatory gender-specific language and menacing sexualised threats, constituting gender-based violence.

Golriz Ghahraman’s exit from politics shows the toll of online bullying on female MPs

Many say it’s become overwhelming, writes @LegallyFeminist (@ucnz).https://t.co/PSsG9OBCii

— The Conversation – Australia + New Zealand (@ConversationEDU) January 19, 2024

Our legal framework is not enough
New Zealand’s current legal framework is not well equipped to respond to the kind of online violence experienced by women MPs like Ghahraman.

The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 is designed to address online harassment by a single known perpetrator. But the most distressing kind of abuse comes from the sheer number of violent commentators, most of whom are unknown to the victim or intentionally anonymous.

This includes “mob style” attacks, where large numbers of perpetrators coordinate efforts to harass, threaten, or intimidate their target.

Without legal recourse, women MPs have two options — tolerate the torrent of abuse, or resign. Both of these options endanger representative democracy.

Putting up with abuse may mean serious impacts on mental health and personal safety. It may also have a chilling effect on what topics women MPs choose to speak about publicly. Resigning means losing important representation of diverse perspectives, especially from minorities.

Having to tolerate the abuse is a breach of the right to be free from gender-based violence. Being forced to resign because of it also breaches women’s rights to participate in politics. Therefore, the government has duties under international human rights law to prevent, respond and redress online violence against women.

“More than 70 national elections are scheduled for 2024. But one group is likely to be significantly under-represented: women. A major reason is the disproportionate amount of abuse female politicians and candidates receive online.”https://t.co/SuPn36zLb4

— Indo-Pacific Defense FORUM (@IPDefenseForum) January 12, 2024

Steps the government can take
United Nations human rights bodies provide some guidance for measures the government could implement to fulfil their obligations and safeguard women’s human rights online.

As one of the drivers of online violence against women MPs is prevailing patriarchal attitudes, the government’s first step should be to correctly label the behaviour: gender-based violence.

Calling online harassment “trolling” or “cyberbullying” downplays the harm and risks normalising the behaviour. “Gender-based violence” reflects the systemic nature of the abuse.

Secondly, the government should urgently review the Harmful Digital Communication Act. The legislation is now nine years old and should be updated to reflect the harmful online behaviour of the 2020s, such as targeted mob-style attacks.

New Zealand is also now out of step with other countries. Australia, the UK and the European Union have all recently strengthened their laws to tackle harmful online content.

These new laws focus on holding big tech companies accountable and encourage cooperation between the government, online platforms and civil society. Greater collaboration, alongside enforcement mechanisms, is essential to address systemic issues like gender-based violence.

Thirdly, given the increasing scale of online violence, the government should ensure adequate resourcing for police to investigate serious incidents. Resources should also be made available for social media moderation among all MPs and training in online safety.

More than ever, words have the power to break people and democracies. It is now the urgent task of the government to fulfil its legal obligations toward women MPs.

Dr Cassandra Mudgway is senior lecturer in law, University of Canterbury. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Dismissed Member of Madang Bryan Kramer says the dismissal notice by Papua New Guinea’s Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae does not affect his appeal.

“What I can confirm is that on the morning the notice was issued, I had filed my appeal before the National Court,” he said.

“My appeal is requesting the court to firstly review the decision of the Ombudsman Commission in refusing my request to be given the evidence in my right to be heard notice.

“Secondly, to review decisions of the Leadership Tribunal in finding me guilty of misconduct in office and its recommendation to the GG for my dismissal from office.”

Being dismissed from office did not stop him from inquiring into “unfinished matters concerning high-level corruption”, he added.

“Unlike in the past, I’m a lot more informed on the system and those behind it. It also doesn’t stop me from reporting to relevant authorities on those involved in corruption.”

Being a Member of Parliament and Minister of State imposed limitations on what could be done and now with those limitations set aside much could be achieved, he said.

”As far as I’m concerned, being dismissed from office as a Member of Parliament is by no means the end of the matter but just the beginning of things to come.”

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Governor-General, Sir Bob Dadae, has formally dismissed former cabinet minister Brian Kramer as a Member of Parliament representing the people of Madang.

On Wednesday, the Governor-General, who was out on duty travel when the Leadership Tribunal made its recommendation of dismissal and fines, penned the final instrument officially signaling his dismissal as a leader covered under the leadership code.

Kramer, a former police and justice minister, was contacted but as of 6pm there was no response. He was reported to be seeking options.

Kramer had said after the Leadership Tribunal’s ruling in April that he would be seeking a judicial review on the tribunal’s decision.

The Post-Courier is aware that he has filed an originating summons in the judicial review track to challenge the decision of the tribunal.

The Judicial Review track deals with the review of decisions made by public authorities, the lower courts or quasi-judicial bodies. It is started by way of originating summons but it is treated differently to other civil proceedings due to its special nature with a need for speedy disposal.

It also differs in that leave for judicial review must first be granted prior to any other orders sought in the originating summons by the plaintiff.

Failure in obtaining the leave by meeting the strict requirements renders the proceedings dismissed.

The Leadership Tribunal comprising, Justice Lawrence Kangwia and senior Magistrates Edward Komia and Josephine Nidue, found Kramer guilty on seven allegations of misconduct in office.

In their decision on penalty they recommended to the Governor-General for Kramer to be dismissed from office for “scandalising the judiciary” and to pay a fine of K2000 each for five allegations for a total of K10,000 (NZ$4700) to be paid within one week.

Meanwhile, when asked by reporters yesterday, Prime Minister James Marape said his office had not officially received formal advice on Kramer’s dismissal.

Marape said he could not comment.

Todagia Kelola is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Are the voters responsible for the corruption in the country?

Papua New Guinea’s Health Minister and Member for Wabag, Dr Lino Tom, seems to think so and he is partly right in his public statement on the matter in the PNG Post-Courier last month.

Unlike in the past, when our people were more self-reliant and attended to their own problems or meet every community obligation on their own, the generation today vote in their Members of Parliament to fix their personal problems and not the country.
And that’s a fact.

Our people think that their MPs are automatic teller machines (ATMs), like the ones deployed by the commercial banks that dispatches cash on demand that they have abandoned our honourable and historical self-reliant way of life.

We agree with our Health Minister that MPs spend too much time and resources managing their voters than on projects and programmes in their electorates for public benefit and development of the country.

The office occupied by MPs does not restrict them to electoral duties only, but as legislators they also have a country to run, and their performances are badly affected when their time is taken up by minute matters from their voters.

On the flip side, the MPs have themselves to blame for creating the culture they are dealing with in the contemporary PNG we are living in.

The structural and legislative reforms to the governance and accountability mechanisms in the public service, combined with the funding of key government programmes that they themselves initiated for self-preservation, is fueling this culture of corruption.

Thus, the blame for corruption must be shared by the politicians too because they are in control of so much money that is going into the districts right now.

For instance, the District Development Authority (DDA), the District Service Improvement Programme (DSIP) and the Provincial Service Improvement Programme (PSIP) are all scams that have directly contributed to the unprecedented rise in the expectations and demands from the voters.

Under the DSIP and PSIP alone, K2.4 billion is channeled to the districts every year, controlled by the both the provincial governors and the open electorate members. That is a lot of cash. How else do you expect our people to behave?

Corruption is a very serious challenge confronting PNG at the moment and we agree with our good minister that our people must stop placing these demands on their MPs. Our people must return to our old ways and that is to work hard to enjoy better lives and meet our life goals.

However, to totally rid corruption in the public sector, we also have to abolish all government programmes that legitimise corruption.

In the current situation, the people are colluding with their Members of Parliament to plunder this nation of its hard-earned cash without putting any thing tangible on the ground to generate more money and to grow the economy.

Otherwise, if the MPs really want to retain their multibillion kina DSIP and PSIP and at the same time kill corruption, they have the solution on their hands.

They only have to apply the funds honestly in their electorates to empower our people to become financially independent so that they leave their MPs alone to focus on development and the economy.

That is the way to go and the most honourable way.

This PNG Post-Courier editorial was published under the title “Corruption- who is to blame?” on 24 May 2023. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Aotearoa New Zealand’s ruling Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend Hamilton West MP Dr Gaurav Sharma effective immediately in the wake of allegations of bullying of and by MPs.

This morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office confirmed the meeting to discuss allegations of bullying raised by Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma would take place this afternoon.

The meeting addressed Dr Sharma’s status within the party after he took his concerns to the media rather than usual party processes for dealing with disputes.

Dr Sharma has complained, however, that using those mechanisms have got him nowhere, saying he had tried dealing with the concerns through the party whip’s office and Parliamentary Service for the past year and a half.

He was not at the caucus meeting this afternoon.

“I note that he did find the time to talk to media,” Ardern said.

“Caucus has determined suspension is the most appropriate response to the repeated breaches of trust from Gaurav over recent days.

No longer in caucus
“This means Gaurav will continue as the MP for Hamilton West and be expected to be present at Parliament. However, he will no longer participate in any caucus events or activities unless caucus’ permission is granted.”

Dr Sharma was emailed, phoned, and text messaged to try to get him to attend the meeting today, she said.

Watch the conference 

Labour’s unanimous decision to suspend MP Dr Sharma. Video: RNZ News

Ardern said she called and tried to message him after the meeting this afternoon, as have others, and she hoped this was not the first he had heard of his suspension.

“We have made efforts to convey this information to him directly.”

The whips directly engaged with Dr Sharma on whether he would attend, she said.

“Originally a range of options were sent and they didn’t receive a response. They then proposed a time and they were told at that time that no, at that time Gaurav had a specific event.

“They then advised that we would set a meeting time at a time that suited Gaurav today, he advised that nearer to 3[pm] would suit so whips suggested 2.30, we then at that point didn’t receive any further engagement.”

All of Labour’s MPs were invited to attend today, she said.

Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend MP Gaurav Sharma effective immediately https://t.co/qogiWItoxG

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) August 16, 2022

Decision unanimous
She said the decision was unanimous, and the team was clear that to function as a political party in a place where open debate and dialogue was key, members needed to be able to trust their colleagues.

“You need to feel you can speak openly and freely. That sense of trust has been broken by repeated breaches of our caucus rules over the last five days and that made the decision very clear,” she said.

Ardern and party leadership have continued to refer to the allegations — which in particular accuse former whip Kieran McAnulty of bullying and gaslighting — as an employment concern between Dr Sharma and the staff in his office.

RNZ has sought comment from McAnulty repeatedly but he has not responded.

Ardern said, based on the documents she has reviewed, the Labour whip’s office and Parliamentary Service began working with Dr Sharma to address concerns raised about his staff management. He was then asked to work with a mentor, which he objected to.

“Finally agreement was reached at the end of last year. Further issues were later raised by additional staff members including those in his direct employment, This resulted in another pause on hirinig and again coaching, mentoring and temporary staff in the meantime.

“Gaurav again objected to this intervention and the need for his future hiring of staff or undertakings on his part. A protracted process ensued.”

No other concerns
Ardern said she still had heard no concerns raised by any other MPs about McAnulty.

She said she did not recall Dr Sharma ever raising his concerns with her and she had gone through records of events and text messages after hearing about his concerns last week.

“I have not gone through everything but from what I can see he is a member who I’ve had less engagement with than most, that is fair to say … he’s never raised the issue directly with me, and that is an expectation I would have because it’s set out in our rules.

“First if there’s an issue you go to the whips. If you’re unable to get resolution you go to either the Labour leader or to someone the Labour leader nominates. And if it’s still unresolved you go to caucus. That didn’t happen.

“He did raise them with my chief-of-staff at the end of last year. He told me about that and he also told me the resolution that was reached between them and I’ve seen the messages that demonstrate that. Neither of us heard anything after that until the events that led to this.”

After he published his column in The New Zealand Herald last Thursday, she called him and he did not pick up, she said. She then sent a text to ask about his welfare, rather than relitigating issues.

“I received one message in response, I won’t go into the details on that but it was essentially setting out his perspective on these issues.”

Bullying not widespread problem
She has consistently refused suggestions that bullying is a widespread problem within the party.

One of his allegations was found to have no basis, she said, but he has continued to make them.

“I am equally concerned that staff members have been implicated by the level of detail that’s been shared … we considered whether or not for transparency we should release some of the communications to demonstrate our perspective on what has occurred here but again that runs the risk of exposing staff.”

She said Dr Sharma’s status would be reviewed in December, to allow a chance for a return to caucus if trust with him was able to be restored.

“But in making the decision to suspend, caucus were clear that the team retains the right to revisit the decision at any time if the rules continue to be broken. To be clear, the caucus’ decision was squarely focused on actions over the last few days. What gave rise to those actions also deserves some reflection.”

Ardern said there were grounds for expulsion under the caucus rules, but the team wanted to send a message that while their trust had been lost and they considered the situation very egregious, they were a team that wanted to give second chances.

“If he does that there’s a pathway back, if he doesn’t then he will be expelled.”

She said the exact date in December for revisiting the decision had not been decided upon.

Options at that time could include continued suspension, a return to caucus, or expulsion. At this point, the possibility of sending a letter to the Speaker to request his removal from Parliament under the waka jumping law has not been discussed.

Informal caucus meeting last night
As the meeting started this afternoon, Dr Sharma contacted RNZ claiming an earlier meeting involving some Labour MPs was held last night, without his knowledge.

Ardern said the outcome today was not predetermined at a meeting last night. She said one of the issues of misconduct was that Sharma had been sharing the contents of meetings publicly, which meant people felt they were unable to raise questions or discuss issues.

The reason Sharma was not informed of the meeting last night was “because people did not feel they could have an open conversation with him”.

Sharma claimed he had an image sent to him, a screenshot of the meeting.

“You’d note that probably if someone were deliberately sharing that message it would be more likely a gallery view,” Ardern said.

“I also knew who took that screenshot, it was intended they were trying to capture something else on their phone, the meeting was occurring in the corner at the same time, they accidentally sent it to someone they shouldn’t.

“What they sent was a screenshot of the conversation trying to set a caucus meeting time, it just so happened that they were multitasking … they’re somewhat embarrassed over the situation.”

The meeting last night was not a formal caucus meeting, she said, and she was also clear there would not be a predetermined outcome.

“Natural justice is very important to our team.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s “petulance” has become tiresome and unnecessary, says prominent lawyer and advocate Graham Leung.

He made the statement in response to Sayed-Khaiyum’s criticism of lawyers in the Court of Disputed Returns case restoring Opposition MP Niko Nawaikula to the electoral roll last week.

Sayed-Khaiyum claimed that the lawyers in the case “did not do a good job” arguing the case, after the court ruled that the Supervisor of Elections had “acted wrongfully and unlawfully” in removing Nawaikula from the National Register of Voters (NRV).

Leung said the Attorney-General’s comments were unprofessional.

“As leader of the bar, to be publicly criticising lawyers that are party to litigation where he is a defendant, frankly, his petulance has become tiresome and is unnecessary,” he said.

“If the Attorney-General wishes to be respected in the legal profession and beyond, he should start showing respect. Throwing a tantrum when you lose a case is not what we expect from the Leader of the Bar.”

Leung said Sayed-Khaiyum appeared to be criticising the lawyers in his own department.

Support for MP’s case
Leung, who represented Nawaikula in the case alongside Jon Apted and Simione Valenitabua, said they represented their client to the best of their abilities.

“We did what we were asked to do, which was to support his case for reinstatement to Parliament.

“As far as we are concerned, the Solicitor-General and his legal team conducted themselves admirably.

“This is the same team that the Attorney-General relies on to do the ‘heavy lifting’ in his chambers and we can only empathise with them that they appear to have been used as a scapegoat for how the case turned out.”

In a press conference in Suva last week, Sayed-Khaiyum said counsel for the Supervisor of Elections and Nawaikula did not do a good job.

“None of the counsels actually listened to the proceedings with the submissions that were made, none of them talked specifically about the implications of not having the correct name registered and one name registered,” he said.

“The implications of any constitutional breaches, nobody talked about that. The Constitution says, specifically under Section 52, that there should be free and fair elections.

“So how can one have free and fair elections if you have the ability to register your name more than once?”

Jale Daucakacaka is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Speaker Job Pomat walked into an empty chamber of Papua New Guinea’s Parliament after the bell was rung about 2pm yesterday, declared a lack of quorum, and left — reportedly disappointed that MPs were late again.

It is understood that government MPs were held up in a caucus meeting nearby, and the opposition MPs were also busy in a meeting.

Clerk to Parliament Kala Aufa told The National newspaper that Parliament had to be adjourned by Pomat because of the lack of quorum.

“Standing orders of Parliament state that sittings must be conducted on a timely basis,” he said.

“The Speaker wants members [MPs] to be on time [punctual].”

Government MPs walked into an empty chamber later after Speaker Pomat had declared it adjourned.

Prime Minister James Marape was advised of the adjournment and sought an audience with Pomat.

Accused of lack of respect
Opposition Leader Belden Namah accused the government MPs of showing no respect to the “people’s house”.

Parliament was expected to resume today at 10am.

Aufa said 10 bills were expected to be tabled and debated.

They include the OLIPAC 2020, Constitutional Amendment (Decentralisation) Law 2020, Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill 2021, MVIL 2021 and KCH Authorisation (Amendment) Bill 2021.

Aufa confirmed that Parliament would sit for two weeks.

Papers are also expected to be tabled by Marape, Minister for Justice Bryan Kramer, and Minister for Civil Aviation Sekie Agisa.

Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey is expected to give a ministerial statement on the covid-19 economic response package on expenditure.

Parliament was forced to close in April after some staff members tested positive of the covid-19.

Pandemic Response Controller David Manning advised Pomat in a letter that the matter be treated as a threat to national security .

Manning wanted all staff of Parliament to be tested and the parliamentary premises decontaminated.

Miriam Zarriga is a reporter for The National. Articles are republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz