Secrets and lies: If the walls in Parliament House could talk

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The corridors of Parliament House run for 22 kilometres, sweeping past more than 4000 rooms across two floors.

They are the highways and back roads for 227 politicians and their staff as they march to the chambers and scurry between offices.

Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The walls, could they talk, would surely lay bare the political machinations of this building – the Machiavellian horsetrading over policy, backroom deals to salvage careers, and plotting by ambitious ministers.

But what of the uglier secrets? The hushed murmurings that exist in the space between rumour and common knowledge, often passed between women as warnings about those to avoid in the building.

When independent senator Lidia Thorpe interrupted Liberal backbencher David Van this week mid-speech in the chamber to accuse him of assaulting her in 2021 – a claim he has strenuously denied – some of his colleagues were not entirely surprised by the allegations.

It was known that Van, whose office had been close to Thorpe’s in Parliament House, had relocated further away after she lodged a complaint about his behaviour in 2021. Van says he agreed to this to placate Thorpe and because it made no difference to him.

Some Liberals were also aware of allegations by two former female Liberal MPs relating to separate incidents involving Van during the last parliament. This masthead does not suggest the allegations against Van are true.

An unseemly week, which started with the Coalition claims that Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher had weaponised former political staffer Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, ended with the Liberal Party down a senator amid questions over its handling of complaints about one of its own MPs in the last parliament. It was an own-goal some Liberals quietly acknowledged on Friday.

“The Gallagher issue should have been pursued, but it could have been done in a more measured way,” one senior Liberal says.

By Thursday evening, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had booted Van from the party room, saying he’d become aware of other allegations against the senator, setting journalists on a search to verify their existence.

But the question remained why it had taken a crossbench senator to surface an allegation under parliamentary privilege for the Liberals to investigate one of their own when the allegations against Van were known by some within the party’s ranks.

“With hindsight, clearly something more should have been done, but at the same time you cannot act on rumour and innuendo,” the Liberal MP says.

For his part, Dutton said the Van allegations had not made their way to his door until Thorpe unleashed in the Senate.

“No, I didn’t know about it. It was brought to my attention – not by the person against whom this alleged act was committed – it was brought to my attention by another party. We’ve made contact with the individuals involved, and I think it’s appropriate that there’s an authority that can deal with it,” he told 3AW on Friday.

In a round of media appearances on Friday morning, Dutton insisted he had acted swiftly in removing Van as he faced questions over “who knew what and when” of the allegations.

But in what proved an understated theme of the week, women were once again losing control of their narratives amid an attempt to navigate a delicate balance of outing reprehensible behaviour while protecting the confidentiality of complainants.

As journalists worked to confirm the nature of the other allegations against Van, former senator Amanda Stoker identified herself on Thursday as one of the Liberal women at the centre, and indicated she had done so reluctantly because it was “no longer tenable” for it to remain private.

“In November 2020, Senator Van inappropriately touched me at an informal social gathering in a parliamentary office. He did so by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and by its repetition, it was not accidental,” Stoker said in a statement.

Former senator Amanda Stoker.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

She had confided in a senior female colleague at the time, she said – and confronted Van (who denies the incident) – but otherwise wanted the matter to remain confidential.

On Friday, Dutton confirmed the existence of a third allegation of misconduct against Van of a “similar nature” and said he had handed the details to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, emphasising the third woman did not want to be identified. This is perhaps little comfort for the woman now facing a deluge of media interest and undoubtedly some expectation that she will join Stoker in putting her accusation on the public record.

Liberal backbench MP Bridget Archer, a survivor of child sex abuse, said she had found the tenor of the conversations in the parliament over the past week “triggering”, noting the chain of events had been kicked off by the leaking of Higgins’ private text messages to media outlets.

“It really is re-traumatising for a lot of people and very difficult to sit with,” she said.

Lidia Thorpe in the Senate on Thursday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But she said she was hopeful that Dutton’s swift action while Thorpe’s allegations are investigated was a sign of a cultural shift in the building.

“I was somewhat heartened by the response that Peter Dutton made … he has obviously taken that seriously and referred that for further consideration. I think that is a very important step,” she told ABC Radio National.

As pressure mounted on Van to leave the parliament entirely, he issued a statement declaring he had been “utterly shattered” by the accusations and “stunned that my good reputation can be so wantonly savaged without due process or accountability”.

“I will fully co-operate with whatever process Mr Dutton proposes to determine these matters as quickly and fairly as possible. While I understand the public interest is high, I will not be making any more public statements on the allegations until a proper examination of these claims is concluded,” he said on Friday.

Should Van withstand the pushes to oust him, the unique nature of the parliament as a workplace will be on display when he returns to the Senate as a crossbencher, moving to the same section of the chamber as Thorpe, his accuser.

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.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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