Lidia Thorpe has addressed why ladies usually don’t go to police when they’re sexually assaulted, throughout a whirlwind week in Parliament.
Her feedback to the Senate chamber come after she accused former Liberal Senator David Van of “harassment” and “sexual assault” on Wednesday.
Senator Van denied the allegations and Senator Thorpe later withdrew the feedback to adjust to senate process.
He has since been suspended from the Liberal get together room after chief Peter Dutton grew to become conscious of accusations from former senator Amanda Stoker that Senator Van had “squeezed my bottom twice” at an incident at Parliament House three years in the past.
Thorpe addressed the chamber to thank those that have supported her within the 48 hours since she aired her allegations.
“I want to send a message of love and support to the women, girls and gender-diverse people out there – black, brown and white – who have experienced gender-based violence and harassment,” she stated.
The Senator went on to deal with the folks questioning her about why she didn’t go to police together with her accusations.
“We know the police are not the experts,” she stated.
“Eighty-seven per cent of sexual assault cases go unreported in Australia, because we don’t want to go to the police, yet they are the only body that is fully resourced and funded and wandering the streets 24-7.
“The experts are our friends, our matriarchs, our sisters who answer our calls in the middle of the night when we’re feeling unsafe and look after us.”
Sunrise host Natalie Barr has ripped into the Liberal Party as additional allegations of inappropriate conduct have been raised in opposition to senator David Van.
It comes after Peter Dutton stated he had no regrets after suspending Senator Van from the Liberal get together room, confirming he had change into conscious of one other allegation levelled in opposition to the senator.
Speaking with the Deputy Liberal chief Sussan Ley on Friday morning’s program, Barr questioned why these allegations are solely coming ahead now.
“Why are we only hearing about this now? Has this been swept under the carpet while you were in government?” she requested Ms Ley.
Ms Ley sidestepped the query as a substitute saying she believed Dutton’s actions had been a “strong demonstration of his leadership”.
“Peter Dutton heard these issues, he made inquiries, he acted accordingly,” she stated.
Unsatisfied with the reply, Barr exploded: “Only now when it was forced on him!”
“You are supposed to be the best of us, you are supposed to be representing us, you are supposed to be running this country.
“And from out here it looks like a cesspool.”
Ley interjected to say, “sometimes issues don’t become known until well after the issues occurred,” however Barr was fast to shoot this down.
“They were known! Amanda Stoker reported it. She did not hide this by the sound of it.”
Ms Ley maintained her defence of the Liberal chief’s response saying he acted as quickly because it “became known” to the get together management.
“His actions have been endorsed by our party and many Australians,” she stated.
VAN ‘SHATTERED’ AS DUTTON CALLS FOR HIM TO RESIGN
On Friday morning, Senator Van issued a recent assertion claiming his fame had been “savaged without due process or accountability”.
“I am utterly shattered by the events of the past days and stunned that my good reputation can be so wantonly savaged without due process or accountability,” he stated.
“I will fully co-operate with whatever process Mr Dutton proposes to determine these matters as quickly and fairly as possible.
“While I understand the public interest is high, I will not be making any more public statements on the allegations until a proper examination of these claims is concluded.”
His assertion got here simply hours after the Opposition chief confirmed a 3rd particular person had come ahead with an allegation in opposition to the senator.
Mr Dutton declined to supply additional particulars on the allegation or touch upon the veracity of the claims.
“This is an issue in any workplace and I think any boss would be remiss not to act … It is unacceptable behaviour, the thought of sexual assault against any woman in the workplace is not something that I would tolerate,” he advised Nine.
Speaking later with 2GB, Mr Dutton stated it could be in “everyone’s best interest” if Senator Van resigned from parliament.
“I’ve spoken to the President of the Victorian division, and I’ve spoken to some of my Victorian colleagues … membership of the party is an issue for the party to resolve,” he stated.
“I think it’s in everyone’s best interest that he resigned from the parliament. And I hope he’s able to do that sooner than later and seek the help that he needs.”
Mr Dutton stated a call to expel him from the get together could be left to the Victorian division of the Liberals.
Senator Van flew again to his residence state of Victoria on Thursday night time after Mr Dutton expelled him from the get together room. Speaking on the airport, he stated the allegations made by Senator Thorpe had been “disgraceful”.
Senator Van stated whereas he recalled a dialog with Ms Stoker, he had no recollection of the accusations and claimed it was one thing he would by no means do.
Mr Dutton stated he had referred the claims made to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.
THORPE FRUSTRATED WITH BACKLASH TO HER STATEMENT
On Friday, Senator Thorpe expressed frustration it took a white girl coming ahead with related allegations for her to be taken significantly
“I became the perpetrator. I became the person that was demonised for speaking truth and I had a media pile-on that day,” she advised ABC’s RN.
“And it wasn’t until a white woman stood up and said, ‘Yeah, this happened to me, too’, that the media took notice. And 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.”
Greens senator Larissa Waters, who supported her former colleague when the incident she raised in parliament allegedly occurred, stated it had been an “unedifying week”.
“It feels like we’re back to square one and it breaks my heart … and I just hope that we can continue with the reforms that we’ve started to make with the Set the Standard report and hope we can have a safer workplace going forwards,” she advised ABC News Breakfast.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
