Lidia Thorpe on white woman’s allegations against David Van – Dutton reveals third complaint

Lidia Thorpe has claimed her allegations of sexual assault inside Parliament House were not believed until a ‘white woman’ also spoke out.

The independent senator sensationally claimed she was harassed and assaulted by Liberal senator David Van on Wednesday. 

Later that evening, she withdrew those comments, only to double down on Thursday. Hours after her second Senate speech, former senator Amanda Stoker came forward with her own allegations against Mr Van.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who took steps to remove Mr Van from the Liberal party room, has since confirmed there are further allegations beyond Ms Stoker and Ms Thorpe. 

‘I have raised another allegation with Senator Van but I’m not going to comment in relation to those matters otherwise. I made a decision yesterday based on all of the information that was available to me,’ he said.

Ms Thorpe told ABC RN on Friday: ‘it wasn’t until a white woman stood up and said, ”yeah, this happened to me, too”, that the media took notice,’ she said.

‘I think that is a great example of the media landscape in this country and that is systemic racism.

‘I was not believed. I was questioned. I was absolutely demonised that day, by everybody. And you wonder why women don’t speak out. You wonder why we are silenced. It’s because of that kind of behaviour.’