Crossbench senator Lidia Thorpe has accused Victorian Liberal senator David Van of sexually assaulting her – a claim he immediately branded disgusting and untrue.
Government sources on Wednesday night said Thorpe’s claim was serious and should be “referred appropriately”, offering support to her.
Thorpe’s allegation, under parliamentary privilege, came in a week when the opposition is targeting Finance Minister Katy Gallagher for allegedly misleading parliament in 2021 over her prior knowledge of the Brittany Higgins TV interview.
Van, speaking in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon, was criticising Labor for attacking Liberal women involved in the Higgins matter, saying parliamentarians should be setting standards, when Thorpe began interjecting, calling out “perpetrator”, and rejecting attempts from the chair to silence her.
“I can’t believe they put you up to make this speech,” she said.
“You can talk”, she said. “You know what you were doing around this time don’t you Van? You got away with a lot.”
She said she was “feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence.”
Asked by Deputy Senate President Andrew McLachlan to withdraw, she said, “I can’t because this person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the [then] prime minister had to remove him from his office.
"To have him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace on the whole party,” she said.
McLachlan said he would refer the matter to Senate president Sue Lines.
After Thorpe’s outburst, Van immediately retorted, “I utterly reject that disgusting statement outright. It is just a lie and I reject it.”
He added, “I withdraw the word lie. It is just not true.” (“Lie” is unparliamentary language.)
Van repeated his denial in a statement outside parliament, saying: “In the Chamber today Senator Thorpe made unfounded and completely untrue allegations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny. These outrageous and reprehensible comments were made by Senator Thorpe using parliamentary privilege in the most malicious and despicable way. My lawyers have written to her already making my position clear in the strongest possible terms.”
The Guardian reported a spokesman for former prime minister Scott Morrison saying, “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.”
UPDATE: Thorpe withdraws
On Wednesday night, Senator Thorpe withdrew her comments, in line with a request from the Senate President, saying she wanted to comply with Senate rules. She promised to make a statement on Thursday.
She told the Senate: “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.”