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Nicolle Flint

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This article is about the Australian politician. For the South African model, see Nicole Flint.

Nicolle Flint
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Boothby
In office
2 July 2016 (2016-07-02) – 11 April 2022 (2022-04-11)
Preceded byAndrew Southcott
Succeeded byLouise Miller-Frost
Personal details
Born (1978-07-15) 15 July 1978 (age 46)
Kingston SE, South Australia, Australia
Political partyLiberal
Alma materFlinders University
OccupationColumnist, political advisor
ProfessionSolicitor

Nicolle Jane Flint (born 15 July 1978) is an Australian politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 2016 to 2022, representing the Division of Boothby in South Australia. She is a member of the Liberal Party and succeeded the previous member, the Liberal Party’s Andrew Southcott, at the 2016 federal election.[1]

Flint announced on 26 February 2021 that she would not contest the 2022 Australian federal election.[2] She gave her valedictory speech on 16 February 2022.[3][4]

On 1 May 2024, Flint was announced as the Liberal Party candidate for the Division of Boothby in the 2025 Australian federal election,[5] however Flint was unsuccessful, losing to Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost on a 7.8% two party preferred swing.[6]

Early political involvement

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Flint was a member of the Young Liberal Movement from 2000 to 2002 and joined the Liberal Party in 2007.[7] She was a solicitor and newspaper columnist before entering politics, and also worked as an advisor to Malcolm Turnbull and Brendan Nelson.[1] She also worked for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.[8] In 2015, Flint co-authored a paper for the Menzies Research Centre entitled "Gender and Politics", calling for more female involvement in the Liberal Party.[7][9]

Member of Parliament

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First term

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Flint was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the seat of Boothby in 2016, replacing retiring MP Andrew Southcott, who had held the seat since 1996.[9] During her first term, Flint raised awareness in Parliament for endometriosis, with the government allocating $2.5 million to researchers for finding new ways of detecting and treating the disease.[10][11]

In 2017, Flint bought 400 copies of a book published by the Menzies Research Centre, a Liberal Party think tank, spending $5818. This was more than any other politician spent on publications between July 2017 and June 2018, despite the book being available online for free.[12] During the 2018 Liberal Party leadership spills, Flint was one of 43 party members to sign a petition calling for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call for a second leadership spill.[13]

2019 election

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In April 2018, the Australian Electoral Commission rearranged the electoral boundaries of South Australia to reduce the number of seats from 11 to 10, in accordance with South Australia's shrinking percentage of the Australian population. The changes to the seat of Boothby resulted in Flint's 2016 margin of 3.5% shrinking to 2.8%.[14] After the redistribution, Boothby was the only marginal seat in the state, making it a target for the Australian Labor Party in the 2019 Australian federal election.[15] Flint was also a target of the progressive activist group GetUp, who labelled her South Australia's "most backwards politician".[16] Days before the election, Flint's campaign office was vandalised with offensive graffiti.[17] She faced further harassment during the campaign, with a man cautioned for allegedly stalking her and her office also being egged.[18]

The race was too close to call on the night of the election,[19] but Flint was eventually declared the winner of the election. Whilst her first preference vote share increased by 3.5%, she suffered a negative swing of 1.3% in the two candidate preferred results.[18][20] Following the election, Flint accused GetUp, Labor and trade union supporters of being responsible for harassment, intimidation and stalking against her during the campaign, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelled the actions as misogynistic and bullying.[21]

Return to Politics

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On 1 May 2024, Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton announced that Flint was re-contesting her former seat at the 2025 federal election as the Liberal candidate for Boothby.[22] She lost to Miller-Frost on a large swing.

Political views

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Flint is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.[23]

Before her election Flint's political views were expressed in regular opinion editorial columns in The Advertiser.[24] She has stated that the Labor Party should have done more to prevent the harassment and intimidation she experienced during the 2019 election campaign.[25]

As a conservative, Flint opposed same-sex marriage during the 2017 same-sex plebiscite, stating that "majority [Australians] want a change to the traditional definition of marriage.” Flint's political stance is heavily influenced by her Christian beliefs, and she has often supported policies that align with the Australian Christian Lobby.[26][27] Additionally, she has expressed opposition to renewable energy initiatives and policies.[28][29] Flint has stated she opposes quotas for women in the Liberal party.[30]

Flint has often expressed concerns over culture war issues such as welcome to country.[31]

As an MP, Flint consistently voted against increasing investment in renewable energy and on greater action to stop animal and plant extinctions. [32]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Boothby – Australia Votes". Election 2016. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  2. ^ Bourke, Latika (26 February 2021). "Liberal MP Nicolle Flint announces she's quitting federal politics". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  3. ^ "ParlInfo - PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION : Valedictory". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  4. ^ "House of Representatives [Part 1] - 16/02/2022 09:24:59 - Parliament of Australia". parlview.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint to recontest Adelaide seat of Boothby at next federal election". ABC News. 1 May 2024. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  6. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2025/guide/boot
  7. ^ a b "Ms Nicolle Flint MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Nicolle Flint (Lib-Boothby) – Maiden Speech | AustralianPolitics.com". australianpolitics.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Liberals announce Nicolle Flint as Boothby candidate in SA to replace veteran Andrew Southcott". ABC News. 1 November 2015.
  10. ^ Novak, Lauren (1 March 2018). "Federal Government commits $2.5 million to research diagnosis, treatment and cure for endometriosis". The Advertiser. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  11. ^ Perrott, Kathryn (2 March 2018). "Endometriosis research allocated $2.5 million in Government funding". ABC News. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  12. ^ Gladstone, Nigel (30 October 2018). "Why Liberal MPs bought 614 copies of one book for $9000". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Malcolm Turnbull asked to see who wanted him out — here are the Liberal MPs that signed on". ABC News. 24 August 2018. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  14. ^ Harmsen, Nick (13 April 2018). "New South Australia electoral boundaries serve Labor food for thought as Mark Butler waits on a seat". ABC News. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  15. ^ Richardson, Tom (3 August 2018). "Labor targets Boothby as Libs seek challenger for Downer". InDaily. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  16. ^ Nielsen, Ben (12 February 2019). "GetUp targets Boothby MP Nicolle Flint, labelling her SA's 'most backwards politician'". ABC News. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  17. ^ MacLennan, Leah (16 May 2019). "Liberal MP Nicolle Flint's campaign office vandalised ahead of federal election". ABC News. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  18. ^ a b Boisvert, Eugene (20 May 2019). "Election results show Liberal MP Nicolle Flint has won marginal SA seat of Boothby". ABC News. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  19. ^ Bermingham, Kathryn (19 May 2019). "Close race in Boothby in SA election count". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  20. ^ Australian Electoral Commission. "Boothby, SA - House of Representatives division information". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 6 December 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  21. ^ Shields, Bevan (16 August 2019). "Scott Morrison to launch new assault on GetUp activist group". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  22. ^ "Former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint to recontest Adelaide seat of Boothby at next federal election". ABC News. May 2024. Archived from the original on 1 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  23. ^ Massola, James (20 March 2021). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Columns". Nicolle Flint for Boothby. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  25. ^ "Government MP Nicolle Flint breaks down in tears, calls for safety of women to be 'above politics'". ABC News. 16 March 2021. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021 – via www.abc.net.au.
  26. ^ Nicolle Flint, Member for Boothby (6 December 2017). "Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 - Second Reading". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia: House of Representatives.
  27. ^ Seccombe, Mike. "How the religious right is trying to take over the Liberal Party". The Saturday Paper. Archived from the original on 17 March 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  28. ^ PENBERTHY, DAVID. "Christian soldiers fight back in Liberals' holy war". The Australian.
  29. ^ Flint, Nicolle. "Albanese's climate change agenda is wasting your money on repetitive, bureaucratic nonsense that delivers no value to the Australian taxpayer". Sky News Australia.
  30. ^ Martin, Sarah (24 March 2021). "Momentum builds within Liberal party to consider quotas for women even as divisions emerge". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  31. ^ "Christian preacher who refused to do Welcome to Country points out the big issue with Australian society after being dragged before Qld Human Rights Commission". Sky News Australia. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  32. ^ "Find out how Nicolle Flint votes on issues that matter to you". December 2021.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Boothby
2016–2022 		Succeeded by
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