Former senator Amanda Stoker accuses Van of sexual harassment

Former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker claimed her former colleague David Van inappropriately touched her by “squeezing my bottom twice” in an incident in Parliament House three years ago.

Stoker’s statement followed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s decision to remove Van from the Liberal Party room and send him to the crossbench after Dutton became aware of allegations against the Victorian backbencher in addition to those raised by independent senator Lidia Thorpe on Wednesday.

Stoker said in her statement that Van “inappropriately touched me at an informal social gathering in a parliamentary office” in November 2020.

“He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental. That action was not appropriate. It was unprofessional and uninvited,” she said.

Stoker raised the incident with Van at a meeting the following day, told him it was unacceptable and should not be repeated.

“He apologised and said he would never do it again. I accepted his apology and his undertaking. Contemporaneous notes of the meeting were taken and it never happened again,” she said.

Van replied to a series of questions about alleged incidents of inappropriate behaviour with a short statement saying they were not true.

“I can confirm I had a very friendly and open discussion with a colleague sometime about this and made it clear that I had no recollection of any such event and can confirm it is not something I would ever do,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday Dutton said he had met with Van and asked him to move to the crossbench.

“Since the airing of Senator Thorpe’s allegation yesterday, further allegations in relation to Senator Van have been brought to my attention overnight and this morning. As such, I met with Senator Van this morning and a short time ago I advised Senator Van of my decision that he should no longer sit in the Liberal Party room,” Dutton said.

Senator David Van has denied inappropriately touching former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker at a function at Parliament House three years ago.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

“At the outset, I want to make clear, very clear, that I’m not making any judgement on the veracity of allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence – I make that very clear.”

“Obviously, there’s an independent process with the PWSS, the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, to get underway. On my instruction, my office, last night and again today, has spoken with the PWSS, and they will conduct their considerations of these matters.”

Thorpe used parliamentary privilege on Wednesday to accuse Van of “harassment” and “sexual assault”, claims Van strongly denied. Thorpe later withdrew the comments to comply with Senate rules.

On Thursday, Thorpe made another statement to the Senate in which she alleged she was cornered by a man in a Parliament House stairwell. She did not identify the man.

In a tearful address, she said there were different understandings of what amounted to sexual assault, and that she had also experienced being followed, “aggressively propositioned and inappropriately touched”.

She did not identify any person as being responsible for that conduct.

In her statement Stoker said that all women should be free from unwanted advances and confident to speak up.

“I promptly advised a senior female colleague about the incident, and of the action I had taken. I did so to ensure that if there were any other incidents of which I was not aware, or any future reports, they could be dealt with appropriately,” she said.

“Obviously, this was not a good experience. I took it very seriously but did not want his misbehaviour to define me or any other woman. I simply wanted to ensure his behaviour was never repeated. So I used the internal process for his behaviour to be addressed, whilst asking for it to be kept confidential.”

“I would have preferred that the matter be resolved privately and finally – as I thought it was. However, following Senator Thorpe’s allegations, it is now clear that is no longer tenable. I do not know of any other similar events or reports.”

Van maintained his innocence in a statement to the Senate, but said he did not wish for the “matter to stain the Liberal Party” and accepted he would “no longer be sitting in the party room”.

Thorpe said she had made her remarks on Wednesday in the context of Van making a speech in which he accused the Labor Party of disgraceful behaviour in its handling of the Brittany Higgins sexual assault allegation. Bruce Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Higgins in a parliament office in March 2019. The criminal trial was aborted in 2022 due to juror misconduct. He has always maintained his innocence.

This prompted Thorpe to interject, and in an exchange with Senate Deputy President Andrew McLachlan, she said of Van, “this person harassed me, sexually assaulted me and the prime minister had to remove him from his office [to relocate Van’s office within Parliament House].”

Van rejected the allegation in the chamber, then released a statement later saying Thorpe had made “unfounded and completely untrue allegations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny”.

Thorpe said in her statement on Thursday she did not go public at the time “because it was during the time Brittany Higgins had made her experience in this building public” and she did not want to detract from that.

She said she was afraid to walk out of the door of her office, would “check the coast was clear before stepping out”, and was supported by her then-colleagues in the Greens by being accompanied by someone “whenever I walked inside this building”.

Thorpe said she chose not to go to the police or pursue legal action, but would speak out against abuse and harassment occurring in parliament.

Van stood to make a personal statement after Thorpe’s tearful speech, describing Thorpe’s allegations as “concocted from beginning to end”.

He accused Thorpe of “cowering under the umbrella of parliamentary privilege to make her claim”.

Van said he had acknowledged publicly that he had moved offices after an earlier allegation from Thorpe that he made her feel uncomfortable.

“That was what was put to me, an allegation that I denied then and I deny today,” he said.

“I agreed to move offices to ensure the avoidance of this.”

He said he also did so to protect himself against Thorpe’s “irrational concerns and ensure the effective and smooth running of the parliament”.

Thorpe’s choice not to go to the police with her allegation was evidence that what she had said was false, he said.

He called for an investigation into Thorpe’s “outrageous claims so they can prove to be false and [I] will fully co-operate with investigators and answer any questions that they might have”.

Dutton said he was not aware of Senator Van moving offices until Thorpe made her allegation on Wednesday, and he then made enquiries about the matter.

“I’m advised that the action at the time that was taken was to the satisfaction of both Senator Thorpe and the Greens Senate leadership team.”

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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