Arabic version: سياسيو أستراليا الغربية يواجهون ضغوط وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي

According to ABC News, Western Australian politicians from Labor, the Liberals and One Nation have confronted online abuse, political attacks and AI-generated commentary in a week that highlighted the pressures of social media.

WA Labor minister Simone McGurk, who has been in parliament since 2013, shared examples of abusive comments sent to her online. She said it was “incredible” to see how negative some responses could be and said the messages were often posted by real people rather than bots. McGurk called on people to challenge abusive behaviour when they knew who might be responsible.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie criticised an online cartoon posted on One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s X account in July which called the former SAS officer a “traitor” over his evidence in a defamation case involving SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith. Hastie said the word would offend veterans and serving personnel. Hanson declined to delete the video, while WA One Nation leader Rod Caddies said he would not condone calling anyone who served Australia a traitor and preferred parties to lower the temperature.

One Nation’s WA MP-elect Luke Herdegen was also the focus of a protest after comments connected to Hanson’s statement that domestic violence is a two-way street. Herdegen said he had meant people were not discussing Hanson’s comments, and said all people should be protected from domestic violence. Protesters invited the gym owner to exercise with them outside WA Parliament; Herdegen watched but did not take part.

The party also challenged a Facebook post by satirical page The Gherk, which has 71,000 followers, alleging Herdegen was not answering calls linked to his new office. Herdegen said he had met the handover team, while the state government said it had only contacted the new member and there had been no delays. The page later said it had no independent way to verify its source’s employment.

Premier Roger Cook said online debate over migration during the Secret Harbour campaign had been driven by “hatred” and called for more oversight. He compared current concerns about social media with earlier anxieties about television, while noting federal Labor efforts to regulate platforms.