Lidia Thorpe accuses Victorian Liberal Senator David Van of sexually harassing her

Lidia Thorpe has sensationally accused Liberal Senator David Van of sexually assaulting her in a scathing attack on him under parliamentary privilege while giving a speech reflecting on the handling of Brittany Higgins’ allegations.

In extraordinary scenes in federal parliament on Wednesday, Senator Thorpe claimed the Victorian senator was “moved” from his office by the prime minister after she made a formal complaint about his conduct.

Senator Thorpe did not reveal when the alleged attack took place or even which prime minister allegedly acted on the claims, former prime minister Scott Morrison or current leader Anthony Albanese.

Mr Van was visibly shocked and vehemently denied Ms Thorpe’s allegations, insisting that ‘it just isn’t true’ – prompting Senator Thorpe to leave the Senate.

“I’ll wait outside while he talks,” she said.

Ms Thorpe made the allegations just before 3.30pm as Mr Van made a statement about the handling of Ms Higgins’ allegations of sexual abuse by MPs this week.

Mr Van has since told Daily Mail Australia that the allegations are ‘baseless and completely untrue’.

“I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny. These outrageous and reprehensible remarks have been made by Senator Thorpe who has used parliamentary privileges in the most malicious and despicable way,” he said.

“My lawyers have already written to her to make my position clear in the strongest possible terms.”

She stood up and said to the Senate under parliamentary privilege, “I just want to pass on that I feel really uncomfortable when a perpetrator talks about violence…”

“This person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the Prime Minister should remove him from office.

And for him to talk about it today is an absolute disgrace! To the whole party.’

Senate Deputy Speaker Andrew McLachlan then asked Ms. Thorpe to retract the comments. Mrs. Thorpe refused to do so.

He then agreed, with the agreement of Senate Labor leader Penny Wong and Liberal leader Simon Birmingham, to take the matter to the President of the Senate.

Mrs. Thorpe was heard to say ‘please’.

Mr Van then said: ‘I reject that statement, that disgusting statement outright.

“It’s just a lie and I reject it.”

He was forced to retract the word “lie,” but doubled down on his denial. “It’s just not true.”

Parliamentary privilege protects politicians from libel prosecution for comments made within the chamber.

Mrs. Thorpe was joined outside by Labor Senator Jana Stewart while Mr. Van finished speaking, and the duo returned when he had finished.

Senate Opposition Leader Simon Birmingham approached Mr Van after the altercation, before both men left.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to both Senators Thorpe and Van for comment.

The altercation came after an intense question hour focused primarily on Treasury Secretary Katy Gallagher.

Ms Gallagher said she had forgotten she had received an invitation to David Sharaz’s wedding as she was inundated with invitations to random events at that point in her career.

The Treasury Secretary also criticized leaked text messages in which Sharaz described her as a “boyfriend” of then-girlfriend, now-fiance Brittany Higgins.

‘May I start by saying that I am not responsible for how people describe their relationship with me,’ said the under fire cabinet minister during question time in the Senate on Wednesday.

Daily Mail Australia revealed last month that Ms Gallagher was invited to Mr Sharaz’s wedding to ex-wife Alexandra Craig in 2018. She addressed the invitation publicly for the first time today and revealed she only remembered [she] heard it report’.

“I had to ask the people I worked with at the time, I think I was prime minister. I got a lot of invitations to a lot of things, some I could visit and some I couldn’t.

“The one I didn’t go to. It was refused.’

She has maintained that it would be inappropriate and a breach of Ms Higgins’ trust to give details beyond what she has already said on the matter.

Ms Gallagher admitted that it was Mr Sharaz who first discussed Ms Higgins’ allegations with her – in the week leading up to the story’s publication via a television interview with Lisa Wilkinson and The Project, and an online interview with news.com.au.

But she told the Senate on Wednesday that her relationship with Mr Sharaz was not unusual – and likely similar to relationships he had with many other politicians.

“I had a professional relationship with Mr. Sharaz, as do many here, as he worked here for a while,” she said.

“It’s a professional relationship with a journalist I knew in the ACT and I ran into him again when I rose to the Senate. I expect that relationship to exist for a number of senators.’

Ms Gallagher again urged the opposition to consider the broader ramifications of their questions, revealing that she had been ‘flooded’ with calls from women’s organizations and women themselves about the impact of the continued reporting.

“If you can live with that on your conscience . . . I can’t live with mine,” she said.