Sarah Hanson-Young, an Australian senator, has filed a defamation suit against fellow lawmaker David Leyonhjelm, accusing him of making a sexist remark on the Senate floor last month, The New York Times reported

At the time, the Senate was debating a motion to relax restrictions on the importation of pepper sprays, which could help women better protect themselves.

It is illegal to bring pepper spray into Australia and anyone doing so could face heavy penalties, according to Australian government's Department of Home Affairs.

While on the floor, Leyonhjelm reportedly told Hanson-Young to "stop shagging men," the Times reported.

"I walked over to the senator and confronted him directly," the Greens Party member said, according to Australian Broadcasting Corportation. "I asked whether I heard him correctly."

She said that the Liberal Democrat retaliated, so she called him a creep. He then allegedly swore at her.

When contacted by the ABC, Leyonhjelm did not deny the altercation.

"Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young interjected, saying something along the lines of all men being rapists," he said in a statement. "I responded by suggesting that if this was the case she should stop shagging men."

Hanson-Young released the following statement shortly after filing suit with the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney:

“The defamatory statements Senator Leyonhjelm made and continues to make are an attack on my character, and have done considerable harm to me and my family,” the statement read. “I’m calling this out because it is wrong . . . No woman, whether she be working behind a bar, in an office or in the Parliament, deserves to be treated this way, and it needs to stop.”

Leyonhjelm has dismissed the suit as baseless and said he is prepared to go to court to fight it.

In a statement issued recently, he said that Hanson-Young "has a history of saying derogatory and sexist things about men and implying that all men are collectively responsible for the crimes of a few," The Guardian reported.

This is not the first time Hanson-Young has been scrutinized on the floor. In 2009 she brought her 2-year-old daughter to work after not being able to find a babysitter, leading the Senate president to order the baby to be rejected from the chamber.