It is now Peter Dutton who is facing questions of who knew what and when over fresh allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in parliament.
Having spent three days prosecuting Labor for its alleged weaponisation of the Brittany Higgins rape allegations, Dutton has been forced to sack Liberal senator David Van from the partyroom over allegations that he sexually assaulted then Greens senator Lidia Thorpe two years ago.
The allegations are serious. They are virtually without precedent in the parliament.
And now there is a pox on both houses.
While the Liberal leader acted quickly to cauterise the obvious political damage that will naturally flow from it, the focus has rapidly shifted away from the Higgins story to another. Dutton is now the leader under fire.
Having started the week raising legitimate questions about the protection racket that Anthony Albanese has provided to his cabinet ministers being interrogated about the Higgins story, the Coalition ends the week in the crosshairs.
Dutton says he was forced to act because further allegations had emerged about Van.
This, following allegations that were levelled by now independent Senator Thorpe in the Senate on Wednesday, that Van had sexually assaulted her.
Thorpe later withdrew her remarks before making a fresh set of claims on Thursday that she had been assaulted in a stairwell of Parliament House in 2021 by an unnamed senator.
Van has vigorously denied the allegations, claiming he was “disgusted” by the claims laid against him.
But there was more. It was then revealed that former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker held claims of sexual harassment against Van.
The tables have been dramatically turned.
For Labor, it is grist to the mill in its portrayal of the Liberal Party as having a cultural problem when it comes to women – an attack it used to devastating effect against Scott Morrison.
Albanese resisted the temptation to capitalise on the fresh scandal in question time in the lower house on Thursday, despite Dutton continuing his pursuit of Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and the accusations that she misled parliament over when and what she knew about the Higgins story before it became public.
Labor MPs were clearly on notice. The Prime Minister wanted to retake the moral high ground in what has been a low point of the parliament in the term of this government.
But neither side can lay claim to this mantle. Dutton claims to have no knowledge of complaints made by Thorpe previously about Van’s alleged behaviour which led to him being moved offices in 2021 – nor of the other complaints from Stoker.
But clearly someone knew something.
Albanese won’t believe his luck that the opposition’s attack has been virtually stopped dead in its tracks. And the precedent has been set.
Labor will see this now as a legitimate line of inquiry to pursue in retaliation to the Coalition’s attacks on Gallagher.
For both sides of politics, this should serve as a valuable lesson in the perils of politicising sexual assault allegations.
Everyone gets burnt in the end.
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