Brittany Lauga, a 37-year-old member of parliament for Queensland, has reported to the Australian Police that some unidentified thugs drugged and sexually assaulted her.
According to Lauga, the incident happened during a night out in her constituency of Yeppoon.
The incident that happened to Lauga, who is also the Assistant Minister for Health, has sparked protests that occurred in response to recent violence against women in Australia.
“This could have happened to anyone, and tragically, it does happen to many of us,” she said after she reported at a police station and then to the hospital on April 28.
“Tests at the hospital confirmed the presence of drugs in my body that I did not take,” she said in a statement posted on social media, adding the substance had impacted her “significantly.”
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) confirmed officers were investigating a sexual assault complaint regarding an incident in Yeppoon on Sunday.
Ms. Lauga was reportedly contacted by other women who said they were drugged on the same evening.
“It’s not OK. We should be able to enjoy socializing in our town without the risk of being drugged or assaulted,” she said, adding that she needed time to “physically and emotionally heal.”
However, police said no extra reports in the same area have been made, but they are asking anyone with information or who has experienced something similar to contact them.
“The QPS takes all reports of drink spiking seriously and investigates reports of drink spiking on a case-by-case basis, often in conjunction with other offenses such as sexual assault,” they said.
Ms. Lauga has been in parliament for nearly a decade and was first elected to the seat of Keppel in 2015.
Queensland Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon called the allegations “shocking” and “horrifying,” the Australian media reported.
“Brittany is a colleague, she is a friend, she is a young woman in the Queensland parliament, and these are really shocking things to read,” Ms. Scanlon said.
“It is unacceptable that women are disproportionately the victims of domestic, family, and sexual violence. Our government is going to continue to do everything we can to protect women and stop violence from occurring.”
Australia has witnessed a spate of high-profile gender-based violence in recent weeks.
In April, an attacker stabbed six people to death in a Sydney shopping centre. Five of the victims were women, and the New South Wales police commissioner told Australia’s ABC News that it was “obvious” he focused on harming women.
In response to the killings, a wave of rallies took place, with demonstrators calling for the declaration of a national emergency and the implementation of stricter laws to stop gender-based violence.
This year, the country has seen an average of one woman killed every four days.
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