Jacinta Allan unleashes scathing attack over threatening Facebook posts

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan has launched a scathing attack accusing the opposition of supporting social media posts that have threatened her family.

Ms Allan unleashed the verbal attack against Liberal MP Tim Smith during the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing today in Melbourne.

Under parliamentary privilege, the minister yelled at the opposition, claiming threatening online posts from the Victorian taxi families group had been prompted by the Liberal Party.

The Minister said some had told her they’d been "she's surprised she hasn't been killed" following the details of the extreme posts.

"You want to know why I'm worried about what you're doing - you're inciting vicious attacks against me and my family," Ms Allan said.

"And I'm quite happy to read into the record what people have been putting on Facebook that they're surprised I haven't been killed by now.

"There have been references to my children and my husband."

The allegations were vehemently denied by Tim Smith, who said he had never endorsed any such posts.

The hearing was then briefly suspended when a group of taxi owners made a comment to the minister as they were leaving the room.