The former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker has accused David Van of inappropriately touching her, one of the “further allegations” that prompted the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to dump him from the Liberal party room.
In a statement on Thursday, Stoker alleged that Van apologised for repeated squeezing of her bottom at a social event in 2020, which she described as inappropriate, “unprofessional and uninvited”.
On Thursday evening Van confirmed to media that allegations were made against him three years ago, but he did not remember the incidents and was now friends with those who made the allegations.
“[Dutton] raised them with me this morning. They were things that were raised by my colleagues three years ago. We had a frank and open and friendly discussion about them,” Van said at Melbourne airport on Thursday evening.
“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.”
When asked if he had restored the relationships with the colleagues who made the allegations, Van replied: “Completely.”
Stoker’s statement comes after allegations by the independent senator Lidia Thorpe, who accused Van of having “inappropriately touched” her in a parliament stairwell. Van will now sit on the Senate crossbench, with the possibility of the parliamentary workplace support service investigating allegations raised against him including by Thorpe.
Stoker, who served in the Senate from 2018 to 2022, alleged that “in November 2020 Senator Van inappropriately touched me at an informal social gathering in a parliamentary office”.
“He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental. That action was not appropriate,” Stoker alleged.
“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. Contemporaneous notes of the meeting were taken and it never happened again.
“I believe all women should be free from unwanted advances and confident to speak up immediately and be respected for doing so.”
Stoker said she reported the alleged behaviour to “a senior female colleague” to ensure that future reports could be dealt with appropriately.
Despite taking his alleged misbehaviour “very seriously”, Stoker said she “did not want his misbehaviour to define me or any other woman”.
“I simply wanted to ensure his behaviour was never repeated. So I used the internal process for his behaviour to be addressed, whilst asking for it to be kept confidential. I would have preferred that the matter be resolved privately and finally – as I thought it was.
“However, following Senator Thorpe’s allegations, it is now clear that is no longer tenable. I do not know of any other similar events or reports.”
Shortly before question time on Thursday, Dutton told reporters in Canberra “further allegations in relation to Senator Van have been brought to my attention overnight” and he had advised Van “he should no longer sit in the Liberal party room”.
“At the outset I want to make clear I’m not making any judgment on the veracity of allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence,” Dutton said.
Thorpe said in the Senate that “one man followed me and cornered me in a stairwell” and “inappropriately touched” her, which she reported to the Senate president and “senior leaders in the Liberal party”, among others.
The Greens senator Larissa Waters later told the Senate that Thorpe’s statement “reflects what she disclosed to the Greens leadership two years ago”. “She was greatly distressed.”
In a statement, Van said: “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.”
Van was elected to the Senate from Victoria in 2019, serving alongside Thorpe, who entered the Senate in September 2020 to fill a vacancy from the former Greens leader Richard Di Natale.
Simon Birmingham, the Coalition leader in the Senate since October 2020, said that Dutton had “shown leadership and a determination to ensure that such matters are handled appropriately”.
“I’m not making any judgment on the veracity of allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence,” he told ABC radio.
Birmingham said he was made aware a couple of years ago of allegations of conduct that “[Thorpe] felt uncomfortable with”, which resulted in Van moving office “for him to keep some distance from Senator Thorpe”.
“And those requests were acted upon to the satisfaction at the time of the Greens leadership, as I understand it, and of Senator Thorpe at the time.”
Birmingham said that the parliamentary workplace support services, to which Dutton has referred complaints made to his office, is able to “provide support services, but also to be able to provide independent assistance and investigation when required”.
Guardian Australia understands Thorpe would support such an investigation.
In Australia, information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732)
