Aug 6, 20223 min read

Nicolle Flint Withdraws from Federal Parliament

Updated: Aug 10, 2022

Nicolle Flint is a member of the Liberal Party and former Member for Boothby from 2016 to 2022. In 2021, Ms. Flint announced that she would not contest her seat in the upcoming 2022 Federal Election. Although an explanation for her departure was not provided, Ms. Flint had been "outspoken about the misogyny and abuse she received as a female MP." Ms. Flint had endured stalking during the 2019 election campaign, with a man in his 60s eventually being charged.

Nicolle Flint, with a strained facial expression and wearing a red suit jacket, with the text "Nicolle Flint" foregrounded.

Garbage Bag Video

In July of 2020, Ms. Flint released a video on social media criticising ABC presenter and Sunday Mail columnist, Peter Goers, over comments he had made regarding Ms. Flint's dress and appearance. Ms. Flint then asked Mr. Goers what a female parliamentarian 'should' wear, before removing her jacket and revealing and outfit made out of a garbage bag:

"How about a garbage bag to match your rubbish views?"

Shark Protection

In 2017, Ms. Flint commented on the Liberal Party's intention to lift protections for great white sharks if a forthcoming CSIRO population study were to find that they were no longer endangered. Ms. Flint had previously written an article for The Advertiser arguing for using techniques to catch sharks and minimise human deaths:

"Human life is precious. Anyone who thinks a shark’s life is more valuable than a person’s life is at best misguided and at worst deranged. Catching a few sharks to minimise human injury — or death — is a sensible solution. Reducing risk to South Australian ocean users is relatively simple. Drum lines, which catch sharks, are easy to install. Nets are an option too. These strategies are proven to protect people.

Voting Record

In November of 2019, Ms. Flint voted 'No' against a proposed amendment Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2019 which would stop the politicisation of the announcement process for grant funding. The amendment was introduced by Greens MP, Adam Bandt, who described the issue:

"[The Government] have issued new guidelines that say, 'Even once the Australian Research Council has approved a grant and it's been through the process, you can't announce it publicly unless you're a coalition MP,' even if it's not in your electorate and even if it's got nothing to do with you. You have to wait until you've got the public announcement of your grant. You have to wait until a coalition MP, a backbencher in a marginal seat, is ready to front up and do a press conference with you. That is an appalling abuse of the independence of the ARC. People should not have to wait to have grants publicly announced to suit the political convenience of a backbencher from the Liberal or National parties. [...] I'm moving an amendment that puts in place a very clear process that can't be accused of being politicised. It makes it crystal clear that when a minister makes the decision to approve the grant funding—so it's not changing the processes under the act—they just publish it within 21 days so that everyone knows. It also says that the announcement is not to be made together with another MP or a candidate from the minister's own political party; they just put it up on the website so that people know."

According to, TheyVoteForYou.org.au, Ms. Flint in effect voted consistently for political interference in research funding grants.

Ms. Flint also voted against the National Cancer Screening Register being operated by a government or not-for-profit organisation, effectively voting for it to be privatised, against increasing investment in renewable energy, against increasing media diversification, against government action on animal and plant extinctions and consistently voted for increasing scrutiny of unions. Ms. Flint never voted against the majority of the Liberal Party since her initial entry to parliament in July 2016