Disturbing letter delivered to MP: 'Enjoy my fresh herpes'
Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick has revealed the threats his family and staff members have received for supporting Victoria's proposed pandemic laws.
Mr Meddick said that vile letters are becoming a "daily occurrence" for his family, staff, and himself, admitting that threats including being shot and his children kidnapped is impacting them.
The extent of the hate mail was brought to light by Mr Meddick's chief of staff Georgie Purcell, who posted a photo of a letter that an anonymous person had sent to Twitter.
"This is just one of many letters sent to our office this week. Some are threatening, some are sick — all of them are wrong," Ms Purcell wrote in a tweet, along with the photo of the shocking letter.
"My boss puts on a brave face, but I’ll say it: we’re struggling. Everyone has the right to voice opinions to pollies. But not like this."
The letter— which included a condom — told Mr Meddick to "enjoy some of my fresh herpes" as well as threatening his family.
“Andy Med-dick, why are you supporting dictator Dan’s pandemic bill?” the letter read.
“You are a f****** c***! Betrayed all vegans and freedoms that we have you c***. You claim to stand for us but you are a dildo to dictator Dan’s butt hole!”
The letter then went on to insult Mr Meddick’s openly transgender children, writing “(They) are as f***** up as you are in the head!”
The MP said his team are making reports to parliament security "most days" now.
"Most are sent to the office’s PO box, but some are now coming to my home address," he said.
"My family have been threatened with being shot, and my kids kidnapped. My staff are scared - they remove their passes on their way in to work to not identify themselves."
'Everyone deserves to be safe at work': Meddick
Mr Meddick said although his colleagues and family are "strong" it's still impacting them.
"Right through this pandemic, I have made my decisions based on reality, and on protecting public health - even if that is unpopular," he said, admitting he never thought he'd be on the receiving end of "gutter attacks."
"Every Victorian has the right to contact their MP. It is an important part of democracy. But many are no longer expressing an opinion or lobbying — they are threatening and inciting violence.
"Everyone deserves to be safe at work. That includes politicians. Right now, many of us are not."
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Mr Meddick said he'll continue to stand behind his decision.
“I won’t be cowed, I’ll still stand for the overwhelming majority of Victorians who know that hard, horrible decisions had to and continue to have to be made.
"This legislation is the instrument we need right now, and hopefully never again," he said.
The laws would give the state premier the power to declare a pandemic and extend emergency conditions for three months at a time, for as long as considered necessary.
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