It is the latest of several complaints about a hostile environment against women in the Australian Parliament. The independent senator Lidia Thorpe assured that she was persecuted and inappropriately touched by one of her colleagues in the Lower House and demanded measures so that the country’s Legislature is a safe place for women. Following the accusations, legislator David Van, of the conservative Liberal Party, was expelled from his political caucus on June 15. However, the accused denies his involvement.
Harassment and sexual abuse are a constant risk for women from which they cannot escape either in developed countries or in places of authority or power. This is brutally exposed by the recent complaint by legislator Lidia Thorpe.
In a powerful speech before the Australian Parliament, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe reported that another legislator followed her, made aggressive propositions and touched her inappropriately in the lower house of the legislature.
The man would have waited to act just in a place where there are no security cameras, the complainant said.
Through tears, the 49-year-old political leader called for measures to make the Australian Parliament a safe place for women.
“No one witnessed what happened in the stairwell as there were no cameras (…) There are different interpretations of what amounts to sexual assault, what I experienced was being followed, aggressively propositioned and touched in a way inappropriate,” the senator reiterated.
As she’s detailing the violence against women statistics, a big look from Senator Lidia Thorpe to someone on her right followed by a long side-eye from Senator David Pockcock. Who could it be? #auspol pic.twitter.com/81gyOtlyAz
—David Marler (@Qldaah) June 15, 2023
The woman explained that she had not made the fact public because it occurred at a time when the country was shocked by the rape complaint made, in February 2021, by another legislator against a member of the Liberal Party, which would have taken place years before.
“But yesterday I had to listen to a senator who made me feel insecure talk about how important it is to ‘keep women safe in Parliament,'” Thorpe said on Thursday, June 15, explaining why he decided not to shut up.
I feel really uncomfortable when a perpetrator talks about violence
And it is that a day before during a parliamentary session, Linda Thorpe interrupted the statements made by her alleged stalker, Senator David Van, of the Liberal Party.
“I just want to convey that I feel really uncomfortable when a perpetrator talks about violence (…) This person harassed me, sexually assaulted me, and having him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace!” remarked the senator.
Van was visibly stunned and distraught by the comments and vehemently denied the allegations. “It’s just not true,” he said.
Thorpe’s allegations were made under parliamentary privilege, according to which no one can be sued for libel for anything said in the Senate.
However, the situation would have already been known internally, as the local press notes that the previous government had agreed to Thorpe’s request to move Van to a different office to reduce their interaction walking to and from the Senate. .
The alleged harasser is expelled from his political party; Thorpe drops the allegation
This Thursday, June 15, the leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, assured that he expelled Van from his political movement, due to the accusations. Although he is still a lawmaker, he no longer represents the Liberal Party, he explained.
“I am not making any judgment as to the truth of the allegations or the guilt or innocence of any individual. I make it very clear. Obviously, there is an independent process with the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service to start,” Dutton said, suggesting that he made the decision because Thorpe’s would not be the only complaint against the accused.
“Since Senator Thorpe’s indictment aired yesterday, more allegations related to Senator Van have come to my attention,” he added.
However, Thorpe reportedly received pressure to withdraw his complaint.
From the beginning, the vice president of the Upper House, Andrew McLachlan, claimed that Thorpe’s comments were “inappropriate” and asked him to withdraw them.
The senator refused to do so for several hours, but later announced that she was withdrawing the accusation.
“Earlier today I made some comments in relation to another senator (…) To comply with permanent parliamentary orders, I withdraw those comments,” said the legislator who made the complaint.
Van has insisted on his innocence and claims to be open to a parliamentary inquiry.
“Senator Thorpe made unsubstantiated and completely false accusations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny,” the man said.
But this would not be the first time that this political leader would commit sexual harassment against one of his colleagues.
David Van will still have to respond to a statement previously made by former Liberal Party senator Amanda Stoker, who said the senator had apologized for “squeezing my butt twice” in the Lower House of Parliament.
“I would have preferred the matter to be finally resolved in private as I thought it was. However, following Senator Thorpe’s allegations, it is now clear that it is no longer tenable,” Stoker said.
Sexual harassment, a normalized scourge in Australian politics
Neither Thorpe’s nor Stoker’s allegations are new in the upper echelons of power in Australia.
Thorpe’s claims follow numerous reports of sexual abuse and misconduct in Parliamentleading to an independent inquiry into parliamentary workplace culture which found that one in three people working there had experienced sexual harassment.
“I know there are others who have experienced similar things and have not come forward out of interest in their careers and out of fear that the media will present them to the world in the same way that I have today,” Thorpe said.
Last year, political leaders apologized to those who have endured decades of intimidation, harassment and sexual assault inside Parliament, who were exposed in the inquiry by the national sex discrimination commissioner.
The inquiry was sparked by the allegation of a staff member who accused a colleague of raping her while she was drunk, in a minister’s office, in 2019.
There is a pattern of Australian male lawmakers using sexist and abusive behavior to undermine their female opponents, lawmaker Dutton said.
With Reuters and local media
#Sexual #harassment #Australian #Parliament #harsh #complaint #Senator #Lidia #Thorpe