Parliament has been hit with a new allegation of workplace sexual assault – two years into a debate about how it handled them last time.
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe alleged on Wednesday afternoon that an upper house colleague, David Van, had sexually harassed and assaulted her.
Senator Thorpe later on Wednesday returned to the Senate to withdraw her comments, saying she would address the comments on Thursday.
Senator Thorpe broke into a debate on civility and how Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape had come to public light two years before to issue a point of order accusing Senator Van of hypocrisy – and much worse.
“I’m feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence,” she said.
“This person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the Prime Minister had to remove him from his office. And to have him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace!”
Allegations denied
Senator Van has denied what he says are “malicious” and “reprehensible” use of parliamentary privilege or the protection from defamation proceedings afforded to MPs.
“I utterly reject that statement, that disgusting statement, outright,” he said on the floor of the Senate.
In a later statement, he added: “My lawyers have written to her already, making my position clear in the strongest possible terms.”
The Guardian reports that former prime minister Scott Morrison doesn’t remember any such allegation from Senator Thorpe, nor being involved in Senator Van moving offices.
“Mr Morrison has no recollection of Lidia Thorpe ever making such an allegation to him personally or of any involvement in Senator Van moving offices,” a statement from his office read.
Senator Van had been delivering a speech critical of Labor over the conduct of its frontbenchers in the Higgins case, an issue that has recently been revived by the publication of private text messages between Ms Higgins and her boyfriend.
Critics say Labor had tried to “weaponise” her case or maximise its political impact.
Impact on sexual assault victims
But questions have been raised about the ethics of reporting on those text messages, which date back to February 2021.
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer, a sexual assault survivor, told TND such reports would “absolutely” have the effect of deterring women from coming forward.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has been the subject of reports citing the unsourced text messages which have revealed she had advance knowledge that Ms Higgins had recorded a television interview about her alleged ordeal.
“I have been inundated with calls from women’s organisations and from women themselves that are concerned about how this debate is going to impact on women making choices about their safety,” Senator Gallagher told the Senate on Wednesday.
“If you can live with your conscience on that [so] I can live with mine.”
Ms Higgins alleged she was raped by a fellow Liberal staffer in the office of the then-defence minister, Linda Reynolds.
Her and others coming forward put the issue of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of women in Parliament and politics at the centre of national attention.
A 2021 report by the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Steering Committee found fewer than 3 per cent of sexual assault investigations in the ACT had resulted in charges being laid against an offender after 30 days.
The national average was nearly 18 per cent.
Mysterious leaks
The text messages emerged after several other leaks of Ms Higgins’ personal material collected during an investigation and trial, including the pages of her diary that had been handed to the federal police during its investigation.
The Australian Federal Police did not comment on how that material was leaked; it has been asked to investigate the most recent leaks.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Wednesday that he shared concerns about the leaking of Ms Higgins’ private communications, but defended the Coalition’s right to ask about its contents.
“The questions we’re asking at the moment in relation to whether the government conspired to seek political advantage out of an alleged sexual assault are absolutely reasonable for us to ask,” he said.
