Small Business Minister Anne Aly says she received 19 death threats in a week after a Coalition MP said she and the Prime Minister should be “stoned in the square”.
Aly called the comments “racist” and “misogynistic”.
Coalition MP Angie Bell said she made a “poor choice of words”, but accused Aly of “deflecting... from the plight of small businesses”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background
At the start of October, a ban on credit and debit card surcharges came into effect.
In response, the ATO said it would stop accepting credit card payments for tax bills from 1 December, as it could no longer pass on the processing fees.
The decision drew criticism from the Opposition and small businesses.
The Government later delayed the change until June 2027 to allow more time for consultation.
Aly’s response
Aly said in an Instagram video that she had received 19 death threats on social media in the past week alone.
She said previous threats against her had included similar language, including calls to “stone her”.
Australia’s first Muslim woman elected to Federal Parliament, Aly has previously spoken about experiencing racism and misogyny.
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She described Bell’s comments as “racist” and “misogynistic”, saying they should never have been made.
MPs threatened
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) have warned of politically motivated violence and threats against MPs.
Last week, AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett told The Nightly “there are a number of particular parliamentarians that do have a greater volume of threatening communication”.
She said women and people from minority backgrounds were particularly targeted.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess also identified politically motivated violence as a key risk in his 2025 Threat Assessment.
Opposition
Bell said she had “immediately withdrawn the comment,” describing it as a “poor choice of words in the heat of the moment”.
She also said she had contacted Aly after the incident.
Liberal Deputy Leader Jane Hume said Bell had reached out to Aly, describing the remarks as potentially “clumsy”.
Hume also accused Aly of using the controversy as a distraction from small business issues.
Bell said Aly was “deflecting from what’s most important and that is the plight of small businesses”.
