On Thursday, an Australian lawmaker described how she had allegedly been sexually “assaulted” in the parliament, saying it was “not a safe place” for women to work.
Independent Lidia Thorpe described being cornered in a stairwell, subjected to “sexual comments,” inappropriately touched, and “proposed” by “powerful men” in a tearful Senate speech.
Thorpe had on Wednesday accused a fellow senator of “sexually assaulting” her, but she later withdrew the accusation under pressure from the House of Representatives.
Thorpe reiterated the main points of her accusations against conservative David Van on Thursday. Van has vehemently refuted the accusations.
Van told local media that the allegations were “utterly untrue,” adding that he was “shattered and battered” by them.
As an Australian lawmaker alleges she was sexually “assaulted” in Parliament, the allegations led to the accused’s suspension on Thursday by Van’s Liberal Party.
Despite the fact that the accusations were shielded from Australia’s strict defamation laws, Thorpe claimed that Van had retained solicitors and that she had to restate her case in order to comply with parliamentary rules.
Saying that “sexual assault” meant different things to different people, Thorpe described her experiences in the crucible of Australian democracy.
“What I experienced was being followed, aggressively propositioned, and inappropriately touched,” she said.
“I was afraid to walk out of the office door. I would open the door slightly and check the coast was clear before stepping out,” she told lawmakers.
“It was to the degree that I had to be accompanied by someone whenever I walked inside this building,” she added.
“I know there are others that have experienced similar things and have not come forward in the interests of their careers.”
Since 2021, high-profile allegations of assault and harassment in parliament have roiled Australian politics.
After a night of heavy drinking in March 2019, former political aide Brittany Higgins claimed that a fellow conservative employee had sexually assaulted her on a couch in a cabinet minister’s parliamentary office.
Following that, there were five different investigations, which together delivered a damning indictment of the frequently sexist nature of Australian politics.
Sexual harassment and bullying were found to be pervasive in Australia’s parliament in 2021, affecting both lawmakers and staff.
At the time, one in three people employed by the parliament reported having “experienced some form of sexual harassment while working there.”
Among them were 63 percent of the female lawmakers in the nation.
The Higgins case sparked widespread outrage, and the risk to her mental health prevented the case from being retried after it was declared a mistrial.
The man in question has threatened to sue his accuser and sued several journalists for covering the case.
He refuted the charges and entered a not-guilty plea to one count of engaging in sexual activity without consent in court.
The controversy has reignited in recent weeks after opposition conservatives leaped on a series of leaked text messages to accuse the now center-left government of politicizing the case.
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