Greens senators give evidence in David Leyonhjelm defamation trial

Senators tell federal court they lament the way Sarah Hanson-Young’s sex life had come up for “public debate.”

Sarah Hanson-Young arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney, Picture: AAP.

Three Australian senators have this morning given evidence in the defamation trial brought by their colleague, Sarah Hanson-Young, with Victorian Green Janet Rice, lamenting the way in which a woman’s sex life had come up for “public debate.”

Senator Rice told the Federal Court, in Sydney, that that there had been a great deal of discussion in parliament about “protecting women from violence” after Melbourne amateur comedian, Eurydice Dixon, was slain in a laneway as she walked home from a night out.

She said debate had been focused not on “arming women” but on “protecting women from violence.”

Senator Rice said she did not hear Senator Hanson-Young say “all men are rapists,” adding that such a statement “would have pricked my ears.”

Senator Rice said Senator Hanson-Young believed she had been “slut-shamed” in the aftermath of the debate. The term was one with which she was familiar, saying: “Certainly among feminists, it’s a known term … women being attacked supposedly because of loose morals”.

David Leyonhjelm outside the Federal Court on Monday. Picture: AAP.

She said she believed Mr Leyonhjelm had “attacked (Senator Hanson-Young) personally” and “brought her private life into public debate … it was a huge attack on Sarah Hanson-Young.”

Greens senator Rachel Siewart told the Federal Court that discussion in the Senate had mainly been about whether women should be allowed to carry mace, or tasers, to protect themselves; guns were also mentioned.

The former Liberal Democrat senator, David Leyonhjelm, would later tell the media that Sarah Hanson-Young had told him that “all men were rapists.”

She has denied this, under oath.

Senator Jordon Steele-John, by video-link from Perth, couldn’t recall such a statement. He said the debate about Senator Hanson-Young’s sexual activity had “stuck in his mind … decisions she may or may not have made about her sexual partners”.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said he recalled hearing something about guns, and how they don’t make women safer from men.

Asked if he recalled the word or expression ”slut-shaming” he said: “I do, vaguely. It struck me as a strong term (although) it wouldn’t be something that I thought about when I shave in the morning (for the record, he has a sparse beard.) It is a strong term.”

The hearing continues.