Lidia Thorpe swears at Pauline Hanson after speech about David Van
Amazing scenes of Lidia Thorpe unleashing the F-bomb on Pauline Hanson after a high-profile speech doubling down on the sexual assault allegations against the Liberal Senator
Lidia Thorpe swore at Pauline Hanson after muttering something under her breath in the Senate following a speech that doubled down on claims she had been sexually assaulted in the House of Representatives.
Senator Thorpe set out her claims against Victorian Senator David Van around noon on Thursday under the protection of parliamentary privileges in Parliament.
She did not use Mr Van’s name as she tearfully claimed she had been ‘aggressively followed, introduced 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 aegis of parliamentary privilege on Wednesday afternoon.
She retracted her comments hours later due to 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 the House of Representatives
As Ms. Thorpe concluded her somber speech, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said something quietly inaudible from the Senate public gallery.
“F*** off Pauline,” Mrs. Thorpe replied.
Mr Van will respond in his own speech to the Senate.
Ms. Thorpe told the Senate she was “disappointed” in the way Senator Van had responded to her speech on Wednesday.
‘Instead of when he stepped forward and took responsibility for making me feel unsafe, he denied it.
“He asked his lawyers to send a letter, the same lawyers who represented Christian Porter, this kind of behavior makes it harder for other women to come forward.”
Ms Thorpe also claimed she had been approached by other Parliament House staffers with similar claims.
“We have a situation in the House where parliamentary staffers come to me to express 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 that he felt “battered and shattered” by Senator Thorpe’s claims that he is a “predator” who “sexually harassed and sexually assaulted” her.
“It is the most terrible thing that has happened to me in my life to have an allegation like this made against you. I’d feel less bad if she accused me of murder instead of this,” he said.
More to follow