NSW Police Officers Have Been Posting Sexist And Racist Abuse On A Female Greens MP’s Facebook
"This is beyond disgusting and completely unacceptable."
NSW Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong has called for an investigation into allegations that serving NSW Police officers have been posting racist, sexist and abusive messages about her on her official Facebook page.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, several officers have been posting racist and sexist jokes on Leong’s page for several weeks, making abusive remarks about her parents and ethnic background (including referring to her father as a “swamp monkey”) and posting sexually abusive comments such as “2 dolla sucky suck lub u long time”.
Reaction to the revelations has been swift and widespread, with NSW Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Geoffrey McKechnie and NSW Police Minister Troy Grant promising that those responsible will be “held to full account”. Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane described the incident as evidence of “disgraceful conduct” within the force, while condemnation on social media was quick to follow.
It’s the latest in a string of online incidents between the NSW Greens and NSW Police to make the news recently, all relating to the Greens’ push to repeal police powers to use sniffer dogs in public without a warrant. In March, Leong came under heavy criticism after her Facebook page published a photo of two police officers patrolling a train with drug dogs. The post was taken down and Leong offered an apology after people began complaining that the photo showed the officer’s faces and described their activities as “harassment” and “intimidating”.
Later that month, VICE News reported that several police officers were posting misleading information to the Sniff Off Facebook group, a large page run by the Greens which warns people of police and dog activity at train stations and other public areas.
Nor is it the first time gendered attacks against female MPs have made headlines this year. In March BuzzFeed Australia carried an interview with Victorian Greens MP Ellen Sandell detailing widespread sexist abuse and bullying in Victorian Parliament, including on Parliament’s floor.
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Feature image via Jenny Leong/Facebook.