Fiona Patten close to tears as she recounts ‘foul’ tirade of abuse directed at her this week

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten has come close to tears while telling Neil Mitchell about the impact of “foul” abuse directed at her this week.

The tirade of abuse came after the independent MP voted to support the Andrews government’s controversial state of emergency legislation last week, extending the powers until December.

She says it’s been “a hard week” and online abuse “does take it out of you”.

“You wake up in the morning, open your emails and there’s just thousands of foul emails,” she told Neil Mitchell.

Ms Patten suggested a code of conduct to govern MPs behaviour, saying many of the abusive and sexually suggestive online comments directed at her were prompted by online posts made by other Victorian MPs.

“If someone did it in your workplace, or in any other workplace, they would be hauled before HR,” she said.

She says abuse has even transitioned from online to in real life.

“I left my house the other morning and someone yells at me in the street as they’re riding past on their bicycle, wishing I would die and then a stream of expletives,” she said.

“I’ll bounce back and I’m proud of the stuff I do.

“I know that I’m in there for the right reasons and I’m working hard.”

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