A former senator turned Sky News host invited under-fire senator David Van on her show to discuss the cost of living crisis just three weeks before publicly accusing him of groping her.
Amanda Stoker thanked the Victorian Liberal senator for ‘sparing her a moment’ during the busy estimates hearing period on May 24.
Ms Stoker, who was a Queensland Liberal National senator from 2018 until 2022 but did not get re-elected at the last federal election, claimed on Thursday evening she had buried the hatchet with Mr Van after he allegedly groped her twice at an informal gathering in a parliamentary office in November 2020.
She was the second woman to accuse Mr Van of improper conduct after Lidia Thorpe told the Senate he had sexually harassed and assaulted her.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claims there are further allegations against Mr Van and is now calling on him to resign from parliament after expelling him from the Liberal party room.
Now, footage has emerged of the last public exchange between Ms Stoker and Mr Van just three weeks ago, in which the senator said: ‘It’s a shame not having you here in estimates with us.
‘You know I love serving with you on the legal committee.’
David Van said he was looking forward to returning home to his wife in the midst of the allegations
The pair went on to have a lengthy discussion about the Victorian budget and the cost of living crisis in the state on the back of the lengthy Covid lockdowns.
Ms Stoker ended the interview thanking the senator for appearing on her program, Sunday with Stoker.
In light of Lidia Thorpe’s allegations in the Senate on Wednesday – in which she said under parliamentary privilege that Mr Van was a ‘perpetrator’ – Ms Stoker felt it was ‘no longer tenable’ to remain silent about her own alleged experience.
She said Mr Van acted inappropriately toward her ‘by squeezing my bottom twice. By its nature and repetition, it was not accidental’.
Ms Stoker said she held a meeting with Mr Van the day after the 2020 incident, at which point he allegedly ‘apologised and said it would never happen again’.
She informed a senior female colleague of the alleged incident but did not feel the need to take it any further, confident the matter had been dealt with.
Mr Van said he had no memory of having had such an encounter with Ms Stoker, but that they had had a ‘frank and open’ discussion about her recollection of the evening at the time.
Amanda Stoker thanked the Victorian Liberal senator for ‘sparing her a moment’ during the busy estimates hearing period on May 24
Peter Dutton expelled Senator David Van from the Liberal party room after a second woman came forward with allegations against him
Now, footage has emerged of their last public exchange just three weeks ago, in which Mr Van said: ‘It’s a shame not having you here in estimates with us. ‘You know I love serving with you on the legal committee’
‘I believe all women should be free from unwanted advances and confident to speak up immediately and be respected for doing so,’ Ms Stoker said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who took steps to remove Mr Van from the Liberal party room, has since confirmed there are further allegations beyond Ms Stoker and Ms Thorpe.
Asked on Friday if he was aware of more allegations against the now-crossbench senator, Mr Dutton said: ‘Yes.’
‘I raised another allegation with Senator Van, but I’m not going to comment in relation to those matters otherwise,’ he told Today.
‘I made a decision yesterday based on all of the information that was available to me… that’s a decision I don’t regret at all.
‘I believe it is in the best interests of the Liberal Party and that’s what I have acted upon and I don’t want Senator Van sitting in our party room. I have made that clear.’
Mr Dutton said the alleged behaviour was unacceptable, and is calling on Mr Van to resign.
‘It’s in everyone’s best interest that he resign from the parliament, and I hope he’s able to do that sooner than later,’ he told 2GB radio on Friday.
‘I think that would be an appropriate next step.’
Earlier, he said: ‘The thought of sexual assault against any woman in the workplace is not something that I would tolerate.
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‘It’s been an issue in the press gallery, been an issue in Parliament House and obviously… I’ve referred the matters to that independent workplace authority for investigation.’
Mr Van issued a statement on Friday stating his ‘good reputation’ had been ‘wantonly savaged without due process or accountability’.
‘I am utterly shattered by the events of the past days,’ he said. ‘I will fully cooperate with whatever process Mr Dutton proposes to determine these matters as quickly and fairly as possible.’
In his shock press conference 10 minutes before Question Time on Thursday, Mr Dutton revealed ‘further allegations in relation to Senator Van’ were brought to his attention, but did not specify the precise nature of those allegations.
Lidia Thorpe doubled down on her allegations she was sexually assaulted under parliamentary privilege, claiming she was ‘followed aggressively, propositioned and inappropriately touched’ – but insisted she would not make a complaint with police
Mr Van issued a statement on Friday stating his ‘good reputation’ had been ‘wantonly savaged without due process or accountability’
Mr Dutton did not take questions.
Hours earlier, Ms Thorpe tearfully told parliament she had been harassed and assaulted when she arrived in 2020.
She said parliament ‘was not a safe place for women’. ‘You are often alone in long corridors, with no windows, in stairwells hidden from view where there are no cameras.’
Ms Thorpe never spoke publicly about her alleged experiences, which she said happened around the time Brittany Higgins came forward with rape allegations, to avoid taking focus off that case.
Instead, she placed her faith in the Liberal Party that her complaint was being taken seriously.
Ms Thorpe said she has no intentions of taking the complaint to the police.
She said there are ‘different understandings of what amounts to sexual assault’ and that when she raised her complaint with the government of the day – the Coalition – ‘it was recognised as such’.
‘I was afraid to walk out of the office door. I would open it slightly and make sure the coast was clear before stepping out,’ she said. ‘I had to be accompanied by someone – that is how the Greens supported me and I thank them for that.’
Ms Thorpe told the Senate she was sure the then prime minister Scott Morrison had been informed. He said in a statement on Wednesday he did not recall if this was the case.
‘I was convinced the government believed me… my faith in the Liberal Party was not the right decision,’ Ms Thorpe said.
‘Until yesterday, I thought they took the issue seriously.’
Ms Thorpe said she was prompted to speak out on Wednesday when Mr Van ‘had the gall to stand up in parliament’ to address the handling of Ms Higgins’ complaint in parliament this week.
She will not pursue legal action or go to police, but vowed to ‘continue to speak out against the abuse and harassment that happens in this building’.
‘That is my choice. I want to focus on making this place safe for everyone,’ she added.
‘And at this moment, it is not a safe place for women and I call on the government to immediately increase the number of security guards in the building and cameras in the corridors and to consult women who work here on what measures can and should be taken.’
