Astonishing scenes as Lidia Thorpe unleashes the F-bomb at Pauline Hanson after bombshell speech doubling down on sex assault claims against Liberal senator
Lidia Thorpe swore at Pauline Hanson after she muttered something under her breath in the Senate in the wake of a speech doubling down on claims she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House.
Senator Thorpe detailed her claims against Victorian Senator David Van under the protection of parliamentary privilege in Parliament about midday on Thursday.
She did not use Mr Van’s name as she tearfully claimed that she was ‘followed aggressively, propositioned and inappropriately touched’ in a stairwell, where she said there was no CCTV.
Mr Van vehemently denied Ms Thorpe’s claims when she first raised the bombshell claims under the protection of parliamentary privilege on Wednesday afternoon.
She withdrew her comments hours later because of a parliamentary point of order, but reiterated them today.
Senators Thorpe and Hanson in the Senate today as Ms Thorpe doubled down on claims she was sexually assaulted in Parliament House
She did not use Mr Van’s name as she tearfully claimed that she was ‘followed aggressively, propositioned and inappropriately touched’ in a stairwell, where she said there was no CCTV
As Ms Thorpe concluded her sombre speech, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said something under her breath that was inaudible from the Senate’s public gallery.
‘F*** off Pauline,’ Ms Thorpe responded.
Mr Van is going to respond in his own speech to the Senate.
Ms Thorpe told the Senate she was ‘disappointed’ in how Senator Van had reacted to her speech on Wednesday.
‘Instead of stepping up, taking accountability for the fact that he made me feel unsafe, he denied it.
‘He asked his lawyers to send a letter, the same lawyers who represented Christian Porter, this type of behaviour makes it harder for other women to come forward.’
Ms Thorpe also claimed she had been approached by other staffers at Parliament House with similar claims.
‘We have a situation in Parliament where parliamentary staffers come to me to speak up about their own experiences of abuse, rather than through the formal channels,’ she told the Senate.
‘My testimony is one of action and resistance, every day in this place.’
Earlier on Thursday morning Senator Van told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he was feeling ‘battered and shattered’ by Senator Thorpe’s allegations that he is a ‘predator’ who ‘sexually harassed and sexually assaulted’ her.
‘To have an allegation like this made against you is the most awful thing that’s happened to me in my life. I would feel less bad if she had accused me of murder rather than this,’ he said.
Earlier on Thursday morning Senator Van told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he was feeling ‘battered and shattered’ by Senator Thorpe’s allegations that he is a ‘predator’ who ‘sexually harassed and sexually assaulted’ her
The Victorian senator told Fordham he’d hardly slept, and was ‘a bit shaky’ after spending much of the night in tears over the extraordinary incident.
‘I just feel battered,’ he said.
While he was shocked when Ms Thorpe levelled the accusation against him under parliamentary privilege, Mr Van said this goes back to an incident in 2021.
He said Ms Thorpe raised allegations then ‘through her leadership to our leadership’ that Mr Van closely ‘followed her into the chamber’ one day back in 2021, and that left her feeling ‘uncomfortable’.
Mr Van said bumping into her in the corridors of parliament as they made their way into the Senate was unavoidable given the proximity of their offices.
‘At times I’ve been in front of her, at times I have been behind her, but at no time did I harass her… I barely even said hello.’
More to follow
