stable condition at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\nAfraid to leave her home<\/p>\n
Cr Ring said she had to make changes to her lifestyle to ensure she did not put herself at risk.<\/p>\n
“Which is a really sad thing, but it’s a reality for women currently in this climate,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It was the police that kind of gave me the reality check of what I needed to do.<\/p>\n
“It was a really uncomfortable experience, but unfortunately my safety is a priority.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/5d14d90186782702aceecefe62d2cf79.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kinne Ring has spoken with police about her experience. (Supplied: Facebook)<\/p>\n
For Cr Ring, the fear is that the threats of violence and abuse will move from online to the real world.<\/p>\n
In her regional community of about 30,000 people, many know where she lives.<\/p>\n
“I am scared of some of those threats I’ve gotten, particularly with the chloroform, that I can’t actually leave my house because something might happen to me if I’m alone,” Cr Ring said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve gotten messages in a voice note saying that the person wanted to smash my insides.”<\/p>\n
A NSW Police spokesperson said in a statement that any incidents involving threats of violence were investigated by police and dealt with accordingly.<\/p>\n
“Where these incidents involve a government official, the Security Investigation Unit, part of Counter Terrorism Command’s Terrorism Investigation Squad, can assist local police in their investigation, especially if a heightened threat is detected,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
“The Security Investigation Unit conducts investigations into fixated persons, lone actor, grievance-fuelled violence, proactive security investigations and high public interest investigations.”<\/p>\n
Further north, Coffs Harbour Mayor Nikki Williams and a family member were granted an apprehended violence order against a community member found guilty of a trespass charge in relation to the mayor.<\/p>\n
“These are the challenges that we face,” Cr Williams said.<\/p>\n
“There has to be a line between politics and decency.”<\/p>\n
Politics at play<\/p>\n
Cr Williams said some of the worst abuse she had been subjected to stemmed from her political alliances.<\/p>\n
Although a member of the Nationals, she led an independent group ticket that included other members of the party.<\/p>\n
![\"Nikki](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/03a9ec4bb9d2c66f9bd3b47c894c01d1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Nikki Williams says she has been subjected to significant online abuse. (ABC Coffs Coast: Caitlan Charles)<\/p>\n
Cr Williams said on one occasion, a cartoon was circulated online that depicted a sexually explicit act being performed on her by a federal Nationals MP.<\/p>\n
“I feel that I’ve become dehumanised,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I’m told that I’m nothing more than a puppet for political parties or for other men, particularly.<\/p>\n
“It’s this dehumanisation that we can’t potentially have our own independent thought that I think is starting to really create that really scary narrative.”<\/p>\n
In the wake of the alleged attack on Ms Haines, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett told ABC Insiders political rhetoric was fuelling threats and abuse.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/bfe02dc6cabe9c1c46be70168664f9bb.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Krissy Barrett says the abuse of female politicians is of a more sexually violent nature. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Commissioner Barrett said it was not the AFP’s job to police free speech or intervene in political discourse, but she would “challenge” any Australian to read some of the threats and abuse reported to them from federal parliamentarians and label them free speech.<\/p>\n
She said the abuse targeted at female parliamentarians was “very often sexual violence threats” and more “personalised”.<\/p>\n
‘Nip it in the bud’<\/p>\n
Local Government NSW president Darcy Byrne has written to Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig asking for support to prevent and respond to threats, intimidation and safety risks for councillors.<\/p>\n
He said even before Ms Haines was allegedly attacked, there were “growing concerns” in the sector about the “dangerous and unsafe environment” that elected officials operated in.<\/p>\n
![\"Darcy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/e3982235bf01250e4bd183ca1af6351c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Darcy Byrne says something must be done to stop violent threats against councillors. (Supplied: LGNSW)<\/p>\n
Cr Byrne, who is the mayor of a Sydney council, has called for multiple changes, including more protections at polling booths, more powers for police to respond to threats, and protections in the council chamber.<\/p>\n
“Local government representatives are the closest to the people. They can’t avoid their communities. They don’t want to,” he said.<\/p>\n
“But because the environment is becoming so febrile and dangerous, that is leaving an ever-larger number of our local councillors feeling unsafe in their work environment and in public.<\/p>\n
“We need to nip it in the bud.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Hoenig said “aggressive or abusive behaviour toward any councillor is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated”.<\/p>\n
“A healthy democracy depends on elected representatives being able to serve their communities without fear of harassment, intimidation or retribution,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Differences of opinion and political debate are central to democratic decision-making. However, elected councillors deserve to be treated with respect as they generously give their time to serve their local communities.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Any threat against elected officials should be reported to the NSW Police and their councils.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After she was subjected to a tirade of sexually explicit and violent online threats, Kempsey Mayor Kinne Ring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,517300,104230,213645,500570,517299,517298,44,62521,445,5324,7813,101671,12632],"class_list":["post-950411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-city-of-coffs-harbour-council","tag-councillors","tag-councils","tag-helen-haines","tag-kemspey-shire-council","tag-kinnie-ring","tag-news","tag-nikki-williams","tag-online","tag-threats","tag-violence","tag-violence-against-women","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/d240fbe26adb15a900aec0e1cee9238b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n