Peter Dutton started lying as soon as he banned Senator David Van from the Liberal Party room in parliament on Thursday (15/6/23) which points to some sort of cover-up. To make matters worse Dutton went on 3AW radio on Friday morning (16/6/23), as per the below audio, and victim shamed Lidia Thorp who is one of the three women complainants.

By banning David Van, Peter Dutton acted acted as judge, jury and executioner but Dutton had the gall to say, “At the outset I want to make clear I’m not making any judgment on the veracity of allegations or any individual’s guilt or innocence.”.

I never seen a dumber statement. By banning Senator David Van from the Liberal Party room Peter Dutton clearly has made a judgment on the allegations which is reinforced by Peter Dutton now calling for David Van to resign as a Senator and if he didn’t the Liberal Party were threatening to kick him out of the Party.

Why the urgency to get rid of David Van and why the denial of natural justice? A normal process would be to side-line David Van until the matter had been investigated and then take action. Peter Dutton may have grounds to in effect sack David Van but the public have a right to know all the facts which Dutton is concealing.

David Van has now resigned from the Liberal Party but it was really a sacking where he was told to resign or be booted from the party. 

Based on the current known facts some people, if not a lot of people, in the Liberal Party have known about complaints against David Van since at least November 2020 when Amanda Stoker made a complaint about being touched on the bum twice by David Van

Current known facts regarding allegations against David Van

What we know so far is 3 women have complained about David Van who are independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, former Liberal National Party Senator Amanda Stoker and a third unnamed women.

Peter Dutton says the unnamed women does not want to be named publicly which is fine but that does not stop the specific allegations being made public.

So what did Peter Dutton know and when? What did the Liberal Party know and when regarding the 3 women’s allegations made against David Van and are there more complaints from more women?

Lidia Thorpe’s allegations

“Thorpe raised allegations against the Liberal senator David Van in the Senate on Wednesday (14/6/23), which she withdrew later that evening. Thorpe gave a fuller statement on Thursday, alleging she was followed and “inappropriately touched” in a parliamentary stairwell but without naming anyone.”

While Thorpe withdrew the allegations in the Senate on Wednesday evening that was only to keep in line with the Senate rules of not abusing other Senators in the Senate Chambers. Thorpe did not withdraw her actual allegations against David Van as other statements by her show.

The Guardian reported Friday (16/6/23):

The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has said she was “demonised” after raising allegations of sexual assault in the parliament and was only taken seriously when a white woman shared her own allegations.

Thorpe noted there was a huge difference in how she was treated after making allegations about being “inappropriately touched” in a parliamentary stairwell, compared with when former the Liberal senator Amanda Stoker raised her own allegations.

“It’s been horrible,” Thorpe told ABC’s Radio National. “I became the perpetrator. I became the person that was demonised … I had a media pile on that day.

“And it wasn’t until a white woman stood up and said ‘yeah, this happened to me, too’ that the media took notice.

“And I think that is a great example of the media landscape in this country and that is systemic racism. I was not believed. I was questioned. I was absolutely demonised that day, by everybody. And you wonder why women don’t speak out. You wonder why we are silenced. It’s because of that kind of behaviour.”(Click here to read more)

Lidia Thorpe’s claim she was “demonised” is supported by the below tweet by former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett who has a long history of using his Twitter account to attack women.

Less than 24 hours after the above tweet, by Jeff Kennett, Peter Dutton banned David Van from the Liberal Party room in Parliament. Did Jeff Kennett apologise? Of course not, once a grub, always a grub. Both Jeff Kennett and David Van were Victorian Liberal Party members and likely friends to at least some degree.

Below is part of Peter Dutton’s interview on 3AW on Friday morning (16/6/23): “Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has taken aim at Senator Lidia Thorpe, saying she has “a lot of issues” and needs “to seek support”. (Click anywhere on the below picture to listen)

NEIL MITCHELL: “Do you believe what she’s been saying in the Parliament this week?”

PETER DUTTON: “I don’t have any detail.”

NEIL MITCHELL: “But you sound sceptical. You’re saying she should get treatment or help which is what the Prime Minister said last time. It’s dog whistling her mental health!”

PETER DUTTON: “Well, with respect, it’s not.” (Click here to listen to the full interview)

I think it’s Peter Dutton who needs treatment and is not fit to be in parliament. Instead of being open to her complaint Dutton attacks her mental health even after he had banned David Van from the party room for sexual assault / harassment.

Based on Peter Dutton’s above interview with 3AW it seems that Lidia Thorpe’s allegations against David Van had nothing to do with Dutton in effect sacking Van.

That leaves Amanda Stoker’s claim that she was touched on the bum twice in 2020 by David Van, which Van denies, and the unknown complaint of an unknown third female as the reason for Peter Dutton sacking David Van from the Liberal Party room.

Amanda Stoker’s allegations have been backed up by Senator Michaelia Cash

News.com.au has confirmed that person was Senator Michaelia Cash, who learned of the complaint in 2020.

At the time, Senator Cash held the portfolio of employment and Brittany Higgins, who sparked a national reckoning with her own sexual abuse allegations, was her press secretary.

In a statement, ex-senator Amanda Stoker confirmed she complained in November, 2020 that 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.

In a statement, Senator Cash confirmed she spoke to Senator Stoker at the time and followed her request to keep the matter confidential.

This week, Brittany Higgins published a series of tweets questioning when Senator Cash became aware of her own allegation.

Ms Higgins posted partial transcripts of a conversation she had with Senator Cash and her COS that were covertly recorded. Click here to read more)

There are reports that David Van has used Christian Porter’s favourite lawyer Rebekah Giles to send a legal threat to Lidia Thorpe. We all know that worked a treat for Porter so it’s sure to end well for David Van. (Click here to read more)

Did David Van also send a legal threat to Amanda Stoker? If not, why not?

The Liberal / National Party opposition spent the last week attacking Labor’s Katy Gallagher regarding what she knew a few days before Brittany Higgin’s rape allegations became public which was a blatant diversionary tactic to distract from the Liberal’s covering up the alleged rape for 2 years.

It now looks like the Liberals were also covering up David Van’s alleged sexual harassment and assaults since 2020 as well.

Peter Dutton has handled the matter poorly and seems to be motivated to get rid of David Van fast to minimise the damage to the Liberal Party and maybe he’s worried other allegations against Van will surface.

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