‘Take it to the police’: David Van responds to Lidia Thorpe claims

‘Shattered’ Liberal senator David Van has told Lidia Thorpe to go to the police if she believes, as she has claimed, that he sexually assaulted her.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe (left) and Liberal senator for Victoria, David Van.

Victorian Liberal senator David Van has told Lidia Thorpe to go to the police if she believes, as she has claimed, that he sexually assaulted her.

The independent senator on Wednesday performed an ­extraordinary backdown in parliament, withdrawing her accusation hours earlier that Mr Van had “harassed and sexually assaulted” her when his party was in government.

Senator Van said Senator Thorpe’s accusations were “just awful,” telling 2GB the allegations were “Just terrible for me and my family.”

“The only time I’ve ever even touched her was shaking her hand after her maiden speech.

“Nothing else, that’s for sure,” he said.

He added: “I’m not going to say a bad word against Lidia, but if she has any belief that anything’s happened, I’d encourage her to take it to the police.”

The former Greens senator on Wednesday branded Senator Van a “perpetrator” in the upper house while he was ­speaking on the need for more respect within the parliamentary workplace and criticising Labor for its treatment of Liberal women, including senators Michaelia Cash and Linda Reynolds, over the Brittany ­Higgins saga.

Liberal Party Senator David Van. Picture: AAP

“I’m feeling really uncomfortable when a perpetrator is speaking about violence,” Senator Thorpe said.

“This person harassed me, ­sexually assaulted me and the (former) prime minister had to ­remove him from his office, and to have him talking about this today is an absolute disgrace on the whole party.”

The Australian understands Senator Van was moved from his office, which was near Senator Thorpe’s suite, after she made a complaint about his behaviour.

Senator Thorpe withdrew her allegations in the upper house just hours later and said she would have more to say on the matter on Thursday.

No police complaint has ever been made about the alleged ­incident.

Before Senator Thorpe’s withdrawal, Senator Van hit back at her spray, which he called a ­“disgusting statement” that he ­“utterly rejected”.

“It is just a lie and I reject it,” Senator Van said.

He then withdrew his accusation that Senator Thorpe had told “a lie” and rephrased it as “it’s just not true”.

Following the incident in the upper house, Senator Van revealed that his lawyers had made contact with Senator Thorpe.

“In the chamber today, Senator Thorpe made unfounded and completely untrue allegations against me that I immediately and unequivocally denied and continue to deny,” Senator Van said in a statement.

“These outrageous and reprehensible comments were made by Senator Thorpe using parliamentary privilege in the most ­malicious and despicable way.

“My lawyers have written to her already making my position clear in the strongest possible terms.”

A spokesman for Scott Morrison, the prime minister at the time of the alleged incident, said Mr Morrison had no recollection of Senator Thorpe ever making such an allegation to him personally, nor of any involvement in Senator Van’s office arrangements.

The spat follows a heated parliamentary sitting week in which the Brittany Higgins scandal dominated both houses, with Labor MPs warning the Coalition its line of attack would make women less likely to report assault, while Liberals accused the government of hypocrisy.

Labor in 2021 grilled the Morrison government over its handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation, but it has defended its attacks at the time because they led to an improvement of workplace culture through the Jenkins report.