CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has read a powerful statement in Parliament expanding on the sexual assault allegations she made against Victorian Liberal senator David Van on Wednesday, who Liberals leader Peter Dutton said will no longer sit in the Liberal party room after other allegations surfaced overnight.
On Wednesday evening, Thorpe used parliamentary privilege (which protects you from being sued for defamation) to accuse Van of sexually assaulting her, but later retracted her claims to respect parliamentary rules which don’t allow you to speak about a fellow politician’s character.
Van rejected the allegations in parliament, and said Thorpe had made “unfounded and completely untrue allegations” that he “immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny”.
On Thursday, Thorpe doubled down on the allegations in an emotional statement calling for women’s safety.
“I experienced sexual comments and it was inappropriately propositioned by powerful men,” she alleged.
“One man followed me and cornered me in the stairwell and most of this was witnessed by staff and a fellow member for Parliament.
“No one witnessed what happened in the stairwell as there were no cameras in stairwells.”
Thorpe said she knew “others that have experienced similar things and have not come forward in the interest of their careers” and “fear that they would be presented to the world by the media in the same way that I have been today.”
She then said that while she knows there are “different understandings of what amounts to sexual assault”, she considers being “followed, aggressively propositioned and inappropriately touched” to be sexual assault.
“I was afraid to walk out of the office door, I would open the doors slightly and checked the coast was clear before stepping out,” she recalled.
“It was to the degree that had to be accompanied by someone whenever I walked inside this building.
“That is how the Greens supported me and I thank them for that.
“To me, it was sexual assault. And the Government at the time recognised it as such.”
Thorpe then explosively claimed that the Liberal Party and Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins had all been informed of the incident, and action had been taken. And on top of all that, she alleged this all happened at the same time that Brittany Higgins went public with her own allegations of sexual assault in Parliament in 2021.
“At the time I spoke to the President of the Senate about it,” Thorpe said.
“I spoke to my colleagues about it. I spoke to the sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins about it during the inquiry.
“I spoke to senior leaders in the Liberal Party and I was assured that the Prime Minister was informed at the time.
“I was convinced that the Government believed me. The actions immediately moving the person’s office reassured me that they understood the seriousness of what I experienced.
“I did not make the incident public at the time because it was during the time Brittney Higgins had made her experience in this building public.
“I did not want to have anything taken away from it her experience and her bravery in coming forward.”
Thorpe then said that, up until yesterday, she had felt satisfied that her allegations were taken seriously. However, this changed when David Van spoke about women’s safety last night.
“Yesterday I had to listen to a senator who has made me feel unsafe speak on how important it is to keep women safe in Parliament,” she said.
“Silence is violence. And yesterday I could not stay silent as someone who has knowingly made me feel unsafe had the gall to stand up in front of Parliament and preach about protecting women.
“This was not an isolated incident. And there are others I could name who have inappropriately touched me. Invaded my space and knowingly made me feel unsafe.”
Thorpe said that “all women that have walked the corridors of [Parliament House] know it is not a safe place”, because female staff often had to be “alone and at long corridors with no windows and in stairwells hidden from view, where there are no cameras.”
She called for accountability from Van, who categorically denies her allegations and labels them fabricated, “reprehensible and outrageous”. Thorpe slammed him for sending her a legal letter, which she claimed was from the same lawyers used by former Attorney General Christian Porter.
“This type of behaviour makes it harder for other women to come forward,” she accused.
“We have a situation in Parliament where Parliamentary staffers come to me to speak up about their own experiences of abuse, rather than through the formal channels.”
Thorpe then said the lack of accountability was unsurprising to her, as she said people, especially Blak women, are “often met with negligence, dismissal or further violence.”
“Too often these conversations remain in closed spaces where allegations are covered up and the silence and gendered violence is maintained,” she said.
“This only serves to uphold a system of abuse that avoids legal and political consequences, where the legal system is used to intimidate and silence.
“Accountability in this country remains a theoretical academic pursuit and nice talking point, a lovely aspiration.”
Lidia Thorpe said she would not be pursuing any legal action against Van or going to police, but had shared her story to draw attention to women’s safety in parliament.
“My testimony is one of action and resistance every day in this place,” she said.
“Violence against women, girls and gender diverse people is a product of gender inequality, and systemic gender based discrimination.
“On average, one woman a week is killed in this country. One out of every five women in Australia will be sexually assaulted, or raped in their lifetime.
“And if you are not white, those statistics are even higher. Perpetrators are made by certain conditions. If we want change, we need to change those conditions.”
Thorpe then called for the Parliament House to have better security measures to protect its female staffers.
“I call on the government to immediately increase the number of security guards in the building and cameras in the corridors and to consult women who work here on what measures can and should be taken,” she said.
“I send my love and solidarity to all women, girls and gender diverse people out there who experience many different forms of sexual violence and to all those survivors, we must continue to stand strong, stand together and never be silenced.”
After Lidia Thorpe’s statement, Liberal leader Peter Dutton announced David Van will no longer sit in the Liberal party room, per The Guardian.
“Since the airing of Senator Thorpe’s allegation yesterday, further allegations in relation to Senator Van have been brought to my attention overnight and this morning,” Dutton said in a press conference.
“As such, I met with Senator Van this morning and a short time ago, I advised Senator Van of my decision that he should no longer sit in the Liberal party room. At the outset, I want to make clear, very clear, that I’m not making any judgment on the veracity of the allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence.”
David Van maintains his innocence and has categorically denied all allegations of misconduct toward Lidia Thorpe. He has called for an investigation “so they can be proved to be false.”
“Let me say this in the clearest possible terms, Senator Thorpe’s allegations are concocted from beginning to end. Nothing she has alleged against me is truthful,” he said in a statement to the Senate on Thursday.
“I have acknowledged publicly that I moved offices after an allegation from Senator Thorpe that I made her feel uncomfortable. That was what was put to me. An allegation that I denied then and I deny today.”
Van called Thorpe’s concerns “irrational” and said he moved his office to “protect” himself and “ensure the effective and smooth running of the parliament.”
“There should be and must be an investigation into these outrageous claims so that they can be proved to be false,” he said.
“I will fully cooperate with the investigators and answer any questions that they may have of me and Senator Thorpe should do the same.”
More to come.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
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