The Victorian Liberal party will hold an urgent meeting to consider the future of Senator David Van after a third inappropriate touching allegation.
As Van denied all allegations made against him this week, the party late Friday announced it would suspend all resources and support to him, with an urgent meeting this weekend to consider the allegations raised by Senate colleagues Amanda Stoker and Lidia Thorpe.
It comes after Stoker, a former Liberal senator, assured she was “fine” and “not scarred for life” by the alleged incident, but was pleased she had spoken up.
On Friday, the leader of the Liberal party, Peter Dutton, urged Van to resign from parliament as the further allegation of sexual misconduct went public.
Dutton’s calls came after being made aware of another allegation of inappropriate touching against Van since he expelled him from the party room on Thursday and raised it with Van on Friday morning.
“I made a decision yesterday based on all of the information that was available to me. It had come to me overnight and on that morning, I raised it with him. I made a decision and that’s a decision I don’t regret at all,” Dutton said.
Dutton told Sydney radio 2GB that he thought it was in “everyone’s best interest that he [Van] resign from the parliament”.
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe raised allegations against Van in the Senate on Wednesday, which she withdrew later that evening. Thorpe gave a fuller statement on Thursday, alleging she was followed and “inappropriately touched” in a parliamentary stairwell, but without naming anyone.
A spokesperson confirmed on Friday evening the party’s Victorian administrative committee would meet over the weekend to consider Van’s future.
Filling in for Peta Credlin on Sky News on Friday, Stoker said she was confident “speaking up was the right thing to do” after alleging her former colleague had inappropriately touched her in 2020.
Stoker confirmed in a statement on Thursday evening that she had alleged Van had “inappropriately touched” her at a social event in November 2020 by squeezing her bottom twice, prompting Dutton’s decision.
Van has denied all allegations made this week against him.
Stoker said the alleged incident with Van “was not appropriate conduct in a workplace … it was unprofessional and uninvited”.
She said she “dealt with it as you’d expect any woman would in a senior position” by following up on it with a senior colleague and dealing with the matter privately instead of going to the media.
“It was important to me that others were safe, especially staff. Senator Van apologised and said I could be confident he wouldn’t behave that way in future … I accepted his apology. I got on with the job,” she said.
Stoker said Van was right to say the pair “buried the hatchet” at the time and moved on with the alleged incident but she was provoked to go public after being approached by journalists on Thursday.
“I’m not out to make this a bigger deal than it is, I’m not scarred for life, and I’m not out to get anyone. I never wanted this to be public, but I’m not about to cover it up,” she said, adding the fact Van had since denied the allegations “tells [her] something”.
“It tells me that speaking up was the right thing to do. After all, the standard we walk past is the standard we accept.”
In the Senate on Friday, Thorpe thanked supporters for messages she had received since making her allegations in the Senate, and spoke about why some survivors of violence do not wish to report their claims to police.
Van has vehemently denied Thorpe’s allegations, which he described as false, and called for an investigation into them, which he said he would cooperate with.
“Nothing [Thorpe] has alleged about me is truthful. No such exchange occurred between us. There is no interaction that could conceivably resemble what she described today,” he said.
Van said he recalled a conversation with Stoker, but not the behaviour she described.
“I said I had no recollection of the events at all and said, you know, it was not something I would do, but you have to respect colleagues if they feel like something has happened. I support them, we remained friends from that day since,” he said.
After Dutton’s comments about further allegations, Van released a statement on Friday saying he would cooperate with any investigation.
“I am utterly shattered by the events of the past days and stunned that my good reputation can be so wantonly savaged without due process or accountability,” he said.
“I will fully cooperate with whatever process Mr Dutton proposes to determine these matters as quickly and fairly as possible.
“While I understand the public interest is high, I will not be making any more public statements on the allegations until a proper examination of these claims is concluded.”
Van has said he believed it was unfair he had been removed from the Liberal party room. Dutton said he was not making any judgment on the veracity of the allegations, but he believed he had made the right decision.
Dutton has referred the matter to the parliamentary workplace support services, which was set up after the inquiry by the former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins carried out following widespread allegations of sexual harassment and assault were raised in parliament house in 2021.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
