The Greens Indigenous Spokesperson, Lidia Thorpe, has quit the Greens party and will move to the crossbench.
Thorpe announced the move on Feb. 6, saying she had realised that she could no longer pursue her advocacy for the Blak Sovereign Movement from within the Greens.
“I have told Greens Leader Adam Bandt and the Senate President that I am resigning from the Greens to sit on the Senate crossbench,” Thorpe said.
“This country has a strong grassroots Black Sovereign Movement, full of staunch and committed warriors, and I want to represent that movement fully in parliament.
“It has become clear to me that I can’t do that from within the Greens. Now I will be able to speak freely on all issues from a sovereign perspective without being constrained by portfolios and agreed party positions.”
Thorpe noted that she felt she could not continue in the Greens party after fellow party members told her they wished to support the Voice to Parliament, which she said was at odds with the community of Indigenous activists who believed it better to pursue the goal of a Treaty between Australia and Indigenous communities.
“This is the movement I was raised in—my Elders marched for Treaty. This is who I am,” Thorpe said. “I have spent my entire life fighting for justice, to defend our Sovereignty, to save Blak lives. That is my goal.”
Thorpe said she would now focus on growing the Blak Sovereign Movement around Australia, although she would still vote with the Greens on environmental issues.
Bandt Sought to Keep Thorpe in the Party
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said in a press conference that Thorpe had made a “phenomenal contribution to the Greens” and that he was genuinely sorry to see her leave the party.“I’m sad to see her go, as I respect her greatly as a fighter for her people,“ Bandt said. “I tried hard to get her to stay with the Greens as our First Nations spokesperson, but she has chosen another course to advance the Blak Sovereignty movement.”
Bandt noted that he had confirmed with Thorpe that she would be able to vote independently on the Voice, which was allowed under the Greens Party constitution.
“There is a place for her in the party. She’s obviously come to a different view,” Bandt said. “I am sad about that, but that is what she’s decided.”
Thorpe Yet to Reveal Position on Indigenous Voice
However, despite her reason for leaving the Greens centring on the party’s support for the voice, Thorpe noted that she was not yet ready to announce her final position on the Voice to Parliament.“I want to continue my negotiations with the government,” she said.
“First Nations Sovereignty is crucial, but so is saving lives today. They could do that by implementing the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the recommendations from the Bringing Them Home report.”
Thorpe has previously been highly critical of the Labor plan to support the Voice to Parliament, saying it did not help Indigenous communities.
“Labor needs to stop tinkering around the edges with new so-called solutions. I’m seeing a lot of time and energy being put towards laying out a pathway to the Voice while neglecting work that is decades overdue,” Thorpe said in 2022.
“This is not the first time Labor has been in government and ignored the self-determined solutions our old people gave them in favour of photo ops. Is this a government that takes Black Lives Matter seriously? Will they implement the remaining recommendations? Clock’s ticking, Labor.”
