Greens senator Lidia Thorpe says she has been shocked by the attitude of some men in Parliament House towards women.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Senator Thorpe described how one Senate colleague frequently waited to walk behind her,saying he linger around until she exited her office. He also put his arm around her when they were walking down to the Senate chamber for question time. Another MP had put his arm around her during a parliamentary committee meeting they both attended,she said.
Another time,an MP saw her at her office,“looked me up and down and said,I want to take you out for dinner” then contacted her staff every other day to see why she hadn’t responded. And there have been persistent “suggestive comments” on her clothes,her hairstyle,and comments like “what have you got in your mouth” when she is eating.
“I’ve got to work with these people. I’m a friendly person and they somehow think that that gives them permission to violate and sexualise me and other women in this place,” Senator Thorpe said.
“I expect this kind of behaviour in a nightclub,not in my workplace.”
She said she now had a rule that when all her staff left,they had to double-check the parliamentary office doors were locked because she didn’t feel safe.
“It also put fear into me. Last night after Senate estimates,which is like 10 o’clock at night,I had to ring my partner in Melbourne to say,‘can you walk me to my office,stay on the phone’,because it’s so scary here at night,there’s no one around,” she said.