2023-06-15 13:59:00
agencies
Thursday, June 15, 2023 04:59 PM
An Australian lawmaker from the opposition Liberal Party was suspended Thursday after a fellow senator accused him of sexually assaulting her at parliament, which she deemed an “unsafe place” for women to work, US media reported. The accusations were severe, considering them “flawed”. However, the leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, suspended Van’s membership, and said that “other accusations” affect him..
Later, a former senator from the Liberal Party accused the deputy of harassing her in 2020 and told local media that the incident took place during a party in an office..
Independent Senator Lydia Thorpe, crying, said in a speech to the Senate on Thursday that she had been subjected to “sexual comments” and “cornered” in the stairwell, and was “touched inappropriately” and “subjected to sexual suggestions” from “men.” strong.”
She added that Parliament “is not a safe place for women, and that case revived accusations that the democracy arena in Australia is also a bastion of sexism and misogyny.”.
Thorpe had accused a fellow senator of “sexual assault” on her, before forcing her to withdraw her statement under threat of parliamentary punishment, but Thursday she repeated her accusations against David Vann, and in a speech before the Senate, Thorpe acknowledged that “sexual assault” means different things to different people. People, and went on to provide details of what happened with her in the corridors of power.
“What I experienced was stalking, aggressive sexual innuendo and inappropriate touching,” she said.
In 2021 Van was forced to move his parliament office away from Thorpe’s after an unspecified complaint. “I was afraid to go out the office door,” Thorpe told fellow lawmakers.
And she continued, “It was necessary for someone to accompany me whenever I walked inside this building, and she said, “I know that there are other people who went through a similar experience, and they did not talk about it in the interest of their careers.”
She added that Van involved lawyers in the matter and that she had to reformulate her case to make it easier to pass through the parliamentary rules.
Fan responded in Parliament saying the accusations were “flawed” and “fabricated” and called for an investigation, accusing Thorpe of “discrediting the Senate” and “hiding under the umbrella of parliamentary privilege”.
Later on Thursday, former Senator Amanda Stocker, of the Liberal Party, was accused of harassing her during a party, and she said in statements to local media that the incident took place during an “informal social gathering in a parliamentary office” in 2020..
Suspension of Fan’s membership from the parliamentary bloc of the Liberal Party does not mean his expulsion from Parliament, and he will continue his work as an independent.
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