Senator Lidia Thorpe: Parliament is Not a Safe Place To Work

In a week already riddled by the allegations that Finance Minister Katy Gallagher had misled parliament in 2021 when she claimed not to have had prior knowledge about Brittany Higgins's TV interview with The Project, more shocking allegations have been made. 

Independent Lidia Thorpe, a crossbench senator has accused David Van of the Liberal Party of sexually assaulting her. Van was speaking in the Senate on Wednesday 14th of June, criticising Labor for attacking Liberal women involved in the Brittany Higgins matter. In his speech, Van was telling that parliamentarians should be setting standards, to this Thorpe began calling out “perpetrator”. The chair attempted to silence her, it didn’t work. 

“I can’t believe they put you up to make this speech.” 

“You can’t talk. You know what you were doing around this time, don’t you Van? You got away with a lot.” 

She continued, saying she was “feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence.” 

Andrew McLachlan, the Deputy Senate President then asked Senator Thorpe to withdraw, to which she responded “I can’t because this person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the [then] prime minister had him removed from his office.”

In this statement, Lidia Thorpe was referring to a 2021 instance when she made a complaint about Van’s behaviour making her uncomfortable. Van has since confirmed that he did in fact move offices, but claims that it was in response to an offer from Scott Ryan, who was, at the time the president of the Senate, to move his office further away from Senator Thorpe after the allegations were made. 

“To have him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace on the whole party.”

Unsurprisingly, Van immediately retorted “I utterly reject that disgusting comment outright. It is just a lie and I reject it.” 

He added that he withdrew the word “lie” from that statement, as the word is considered “unparliamentary language.” 

This allegation made by Senator Thorpe was made under parliamentary privilege, this term refers to the right of parliamentarians to say things in parliament without legal ramifications. 

On Wednesday night, just hours after the allegations were made, Senator Thorpe withdrew her comments at the request of the Senate President. 

“Earlier today I made some comments in relation to another senator. In order to comply with parliamentary standing orders, I withdraw those remarks. For the information of the Senate, I will make a further statement on the matter tomorrow.” 

Senator Lidia Thorpe gave an emotional address to the Senate today, the 15th of June, in this she vocalised her view that parliament is not a safe place to work. She talked about “sexual comments” being made, as well as being “inappropriately propositioned” within the corridors and stairways of parliament house. She detailed that one man followed her, before cornering her in a stairwell. She also talked about “others who have touched” her and made her feel unsafe. Senator Thorpe also expressed her disappointment at Van not taking responsibility for his actions. 

Senator Thorpe also confirmed that she would not be seeking legal action against Van, nor going to the police. As well as saying that “the same lawyers who represented Christian Porter” were now representing Senator Van and had last night sent her a letter.

She has also called on the government to increase the number of security guards in Parliament House, as well as install more CCTV cameras to deter inappropriate behaviour. 

Just hours after Senator Thorpe made her public statement, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton revealed that more allegations had been made about David Van and that he would no longer be allowed to sit with the Liberal Party. 

“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. 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 judgement on the veracity of the allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence.” 

He further said that he had referred all allegations to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. 

Not long later Senator David Van entered the Senate and again rejected the allegations against him, saying they were “unfounded” but that he accepts the decision for him to no longer sit with the Liberal Party. 

“I do not wish this matter to stay in the Liberal Party that I have fought so hard for, so I accept that I will no longer be sitting in the party room. There should be and must be an investigation into these outrageous claims so that they can be proved false. I will fully cooperate with the investigators and answer any questions that they have of me and Senator Thorpe should do the same.”

Later, Liberal National Party Senator Amanda Stoker made further allegations about David Van. She contacted Peter Dutton, to allege that Van touched her bottom twice at a Parliamentary Office drinks event in 2020. Some quotes from the statement she released:
“[He] inappropriately touched me at at informal social gathering. He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental. That action was appropriate. It was unprofessional and uninvited.”
“I raised the matter with Senator Van at a meeting the following day. I described the action, told him it was unacceptable, and that it was not to be repeated. He apologised and said he would never do it again. I accepted his apology and his undertaking.”