The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has said she was “demonised” after raising allegations of sexual assault in the parliament and was only taken seriously when a white woman shared her own allegations.
Thorpe noted there was a huge difference in how she was treated after making allegations about being “inappropriately touched” in a parliamentary stairwell, compared with when former the Liberal senator Amanda Stoker raised her own allegations.
“It’s been horrible,” Thorpe told ABC’s Radio National. “I became the perpetrator. I became the person that was demonised … I had a media pile on that day.
“And it wasn’t until a white woman stood up and said ‘yeah, this happened to me, too’ that the media took notice.
“And I think that is a great example of the media landscape in this country and that is systemic racism. I was not believed. I was questioned. I was absolutely demonised that day, by everybody. And you wonder why women don’t speak out. You wonder why we are silenced. It’s because of that kind of behaviour.”
Thorpe raised allegations against the Liberal senator David 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.
In a statement on Thursday, Stoker alleged that Van apologised for squeezing her bottom twice at a social event in 2020, which she described as inappropriate, “unprofessional and uninvited”.
Van has vehemently denied Thorpe’s allegations, which he described as false. Van said he recalled a conversation with Stoker, but not the behaviour she described, saying he wouldn’t have done that.
The Liberal MP Bridget Archer told the ABC that what Thorpe was saying “would have resonated also with a lot of women across the country” who “have had that feeling of being in any number of kind of public places or workplaces or anywhere where you’re conscious of your personal safety”.
“It’s something that women are vigilant about all the time,” she said.
“You know, they’re conscious of where they are, what their surroundings are, who’s there. And this is the issue. That’s what we need to try and change and particularly in workplaces where people really are entitled to feel safe.”
The Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, expelled Van from the party room on Thursday, a move Van has said was unfair. On Friday, Dutton said he had been made aware of a further allegation against Van, but declined to go into any detail.
He also called for Van to resign from the parliament and said his future with the Liberal party rested in the hands of the Victorian state branch.
Dutton told Sydney radio station 2GB that he “didn’t act right off the back” of Thorpe’s Senate statement and that there “were further allegations that were brought to my attention” which he considered to be “seperate issues in that sense”. The host referred to Stoker as a “quality woman”.
In another interview, with Melbourne radio station 3AW, Dutton said Thorpe had “besmirched everybody who works in Parliament House”.
“Senator Thorpe – and it’s been well documented in the papers, her conduct inside and outside of the chamber – does need to seek support … with all due respect to her,” he said.
“I think Senator Thorpe has lots of issues and some of those and her own conduct have been well documented.
“She made serious allegations in the Senate this week. She hasn’t provided the names or details of individuals involved.
“She doesn’t wish to make a complaint to the police. She says she doesn’t want the matters to go further. In the absence of any detail, it’s hard to just besmirch everybody without providing details. It’s hard to investigate that and provide an outcome.”
In her statement to Senate on Thursday, Thorpe said: “Yesterday I made remarks in relation to another senator. I then had to withdraw them because the rules of the Senate do not allow you to speak about someone’s character, only about something they have said. So today I will speak about my experience of parliament.”
Thorpe said she did not believe the parliament was a safe place.
Independent MP Helen Haines said “politics was being privileged over people” and “political point-scoring” was still taking precedence over creating a safe work place.
“I take Senator Thorpe’s reflection on this very, very, very seriously,” Haines said on ABC radio Melbourne.
“If one woman doesn’t feel safe in our parliament, then no women ultimately feel safe in this parliament. So I think that what Senator Thorpe said is grave … and underscored we have quite a way to go.”
The Greens senator Larissa Waters told the ABC she feels “like we [the parliament] have taken a huge step backwards” and the job of the parliament was now to “actually set the standard for the rest of the nation”.
“I can only worry about what this week has done to anyone out there who has experienced sexual harassment or assault and we know sadly how many people fit into that category,” she said.
“What they must be feeling when they see personal text messages splashed across the front page of a newspaper. When they see the tone that was taken in relation to sexual assault allegations this week.”
In a statement Van said he was “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”.
“I will fully cooperate with whatever process Mr Dutton proposes to determine these matters as quickly and fairly as possible,” he said.
• 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
