Nicola Willis hits back at abuse, threats - 'Stuff off'

Female politicians fear a normalised "toxic environment" of gendered abuse is stopping women from wanting a seat at the decision-making table.

Now, National Party deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis is calling for people to join her in "belittling the trolls" as she shares a message for an online harasser: "Stuff off".

Willis spoke at a gathering for women in local government, ahead of the LGNZ SuperLocal conference on Wednesday.

She announced the Ministry for Women was working with Netsafe on a toolkit for workplaces supporting women in leadership positions, including for local council candidates.

Willis said gendered harassment had become normalised, and provided examples of social media posts from anonymised accounts.

She had screenshots saved to a "folder of doom".

Willis read a "particularly spicy" one: "Eff up bitch, you ruin lives, that makes you an effing rhymes-with-munt."

She went on to say it was as though some believed her to be a "defective mother" for daring to be in such a public role.

"I share it with you to say it is real, we all get it."

It was this toxic virtual environment she believed posed a risk to women's participation in public roles.

The nature of online abuse meant it was constant, easily spread and contributed to the normalisation of violence against women and girls, she said.

By sharing their experiences, women could know they are not alone.

"I encourage you to join me belittling the trolls.

"The impact of online abuse on female politicians is significant.

"And so we do need to allow better protection for women and find ways to make this kind of abuse socially unacceptable."

To her anonymous harasser, she said, "Stuff off, you pathetic little troll".

Willis also spoke of New Zealand's "trailblazing" suffrage movement.

"I'm proud to be one of the seven women that sit around the Cabinet table, allowing us to advise on, decide and guide some of the most crucial decisions for our country."

Local body elections in 2022 saw the most women ever gain seats at council tables, with 45.5 percent of positions won by females.

Willis saw it as her job to not only acknowledge the good, but also the bad.

With the increase in representation of women, there was beginning to be a "disturbing trend of online violence against women and politics and other leadership positions".

Two mayors share their experiences

Tararua District Council mayor Tracey Collis has a method for dealing with abuse coming to her.

If it was a threat, she went straight to the police.

All the other "ugly" communications went to the chief executive.

As a recipient of unexpected house calls from ratepayers, Collis was a "big advocate" for not having full addresses visible to the public during elections.

Safety was top of mind.

Collis said there was a "genuine concern" people thought twice before standing.

"It's just having an understanding of people's emotions and how they are sharing those but we need to keep ourselves safe ... it can take an emotional toll."

Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell said it was fantastic connecting with other women in local government and hearing shared experiences.

It was also heartbreaking hearing how familiar they all were with dealing with harmful content, she said, especially on social media.

"It is deeply concerning that aspiring leaders are looking at what we're currently dealing with and are concerned that the toll it takes may not be worth it.

"The work we do to improve our communities is so important and we really can't let the level of hate and violence demonstrated be seen as acceptable or tolerated."

Tapsell saw it as not a woman's issue, but a New Zealand-wide issue.

"I encourage people to report abusive posts on social media."

Her own experiences included phone abuse and threats of violence.

"There are instances I've had to report issues to police and received support from Netsafe."

What she reported to police related to messages conveying if the senders saw her, they would hurt her, she said.

Referring to the Netsafe announcement, she said she was grateful the tools were available, and encouraged people facing abuse to reach out for support.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.