Bill Shorten has revealed his 11-year-old daughter discovered he was being trolled by anti-vaxxers when she looked at his Instagram account on his phone.
The former Labor leader said Clementine, his only child with wife Chloe, found hundreds of 'hardcore' comments posted last month after he described Melbourne anti-vax protesters as 'man baby Nazis'.
Mr Shorten called on social media companies to stop the 'pain and anguish' caused by anonymous trolls after Barnaby Joyce revealed his daughter Bridgette had been subjected to false allegations that she had an affair with John Barilaro.
Bill Shorten has revealed his 11-year-old daughter Clementine (pictured together on Mr Shorten's public Instagram page) discovered he was being trolled by anti-vaxxers
Mr Shorten said his daughter discovered the trolling on this post he made on September 11
In an opinion piece first published in the West Australian newspaper, he described being 'constantly shocked' by online trolling and explained how his daughter discovered abusive comments last month.
'A few weeks ago, my daughter was looking at my Instagram page on my phone when she alerted me to a series of comments on a post from some time back,' he wrote.
Mr Shorten said the post was a tribute to the victims of the 9/11 terror attack which claimed the life of his friend Andrew Knox.
'What my 11-year-old daughter came across though was hundreds of new comments that were part of a co-ordinated message bombing of my account by anti-vaxxers because of comments I had made about the recent Melbourne protests,' he said.
'This was not the run-of-the-mill trolling that I block, delete or ignore on a daily basis. This was hardcore. None of it is policed and anything goes. It's the wild, wild west.'
Bill shorten gives his daughter Clementine a kiss on stage with his wife Chloe at a 2019 Federal election volunteer rally in Burwood, Sydney
Mr Shorten, who led Labor to two election defeats in 2016 and 2019, said he lets his daughter
