An another accusation against Victorian Liberal Senator David Van has been made public by former Queensland senator Amanda Stoker.
On Wednesday night in the senate chamber, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe made the sensational accusation of sexual assault against Senator Van. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton later announced that he had expelled the Victorian senator from the Liberal Partyroom and that there was “a further allegation” against Senator Van.
Ms. Stoker acknowledged the incident Mr. Dutton mentioned was about her in a statement made on Thursday night.
In a statement, Ms. Stoker said that “Senator Van inappropriately touched me in November 2020 at a casual social gathering in a parliamentary office.”
He accomplished this by twice squeezing my bum. It was hardly accidental, given its nature and frequency.
“That action wasn’t the right one. It was unwelcome and unprofessional.
The ex-senator and former attorney claimed that she had “raised the matter with Senator Van at a meeting the following day.”
“I detailed the behavior, informed him that it was improper, and demanded that it not be repeated. He apologized and vowed never to do it again, according to Ms. Stoker’s statement.
“I accepted his undertaking and his apology.”
“Contemporaneous notes of the meeting were taken, and it never happened again.”
Three-times-youngest mother Ms. Stoker stated that she thought “all women should be free from unwanted advances” and that they should also feel “confident to speak up immediately and be respected for doing so.”
She also described the actions she took to report Senator Van’s behavior in the event that there was a pattern of behavior.
“I immediately informed a senior female coworker of the situation and the measures I had taken. I did this to make sure that any future allegations or situations of which I was unaware might be dealt with appropriately, she said.
This was obviously a bad experience. Although I took it very seriously, I didn’t want my behavior or that of other women to be defined by his bad behavior. I merely wanted to prevent his actions from happening again.
“So I asked for it to be kept confidential while using the internal process to address his behavior.”
Ms. Stoker said that she “would have preferred that the matter be resolved privately and finally,” as she believed it was, but that it was obvious “that is no longer tenable” after Senator Thorpe’s charges were made public in the Senate chamber.
Ms. Stoker stated, “I am not aware of any other reports or events that are comparable.”
Senator Van was informed by Ms Stoker, a “former Liberal senator” who he only identified as such, that if he ever committed the same offense against another person, she would “destroy him” and his career would be wrecked.
On Thursday, Senator Van left Canberra.
At Melbourne Airport, he responded to reporters’ questions by calling the Senator Thorpe’s accusations “disgraceful” and “the way they’ve been made is disgraceful.”
Senator Van remarked, “Hiding behind parliamentary privilege is a terrible thing to do.
The senator from Victoria added that he did not believe Mr. Dutton was right to kick him out of the Liberal party room but added that he was “not going to repeat private conversations.”
When asked how he felt, he responded that he was “shattered.”
“Utterly shattered, as I said in the parliament, this is the worst thing that’s ever, you know, I could not imagine these allegations being made against me,” he said.
A comment request has gone unanswered from Senator Van. When the Sydney Morning Herald brought up the charges, he refuted them.
Senator Van responded, “I can confirm that I had a very amicable and open talk about this with a colleague at some point and made it plain that I had no recollection of any such event and can confirm it not something I would ever do.
