Senator Calls on Lidia Thorpe to Grow Up

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe (formerly of the Greens) crawls away after attempting to disrupt British women's rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, at a “Let Womaen Speak” rally against transgenders entering women's spaces outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on March 23, 2023. (AAP Image/Michelle Haywood)

Tasmanian Senator Jacquie Lambie has called on controversial Senator Lidia Thorpe to take responsibility for her actions after a late-night tirade outside a Melbourne strip club.

The incident was the latest in a series of colourful incidents involving the former Greens senator who, just a few weeks back, was involved in a scuffle with police officers after intervening in a women’s rights rally.

The footage was released on April 16, showing the now-independent Senator Thorpe outside Maxine’s Gentleman Club in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick after a friend’s 50th birthday.

“All I want to say to the black brothers there and anyone that we’re fighting,'' she shouted.

“Any black man that stands with the [expletive] white little [expletive] like that, youse can all get [expletive] too.”

One person responded, “How the [expletive] does someone get in Parliament like you?”

Thorpe responded saying, “We’ve been repressed all our [expletive] life in this country, and you let this little dog speak.”

Later, the senator issued a statement to Seven News saying she had been provoked over her Indigenous views.

“It’s sad people are utilising whatever they can to drag me down when we’re trying to discuss important issues in this country,” she said.

Time to Take Responsibility: Senator

However, Senator Lambie said she could not keep doing this.

“A good start would be ... take the responsibility for your own actions and take them into your own hands,” she told Sky News on April 17.

“There is no getting out of this, you are a politician. Sometimes we do muck up, but not taking any responsibility for yourself is not very helpful.”

She suggested Thorpe go for counselling.

“Because, quite frankly, something needs to be done. I would say this to Lidia, you cannot keep doing this.

Thorpe was elected to the Australian Senate in 2020 as part of the left-wing Greens. Her tenure, thus far, has been eventful.

Thorpe’s Activism

In October 2022, Thorpe resigned from her position as Green’s deputy leader in the senate following revelations she had a relationship with an ex-leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang when she sat on the parliamentary committee investigating criminal gangs.

In February 2023, the senator blocked the Mardi Gras parade in Sydney when she lay down in front of a parade float.

“Black and brown trans women started the first pride march as a protest against police violence. Today, we still face violence from police,” she wrote on Twitter.

In the same month, Thorpe quit the Greens and became independent after disagreeing over the party’s support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The Greens back embedding an Indigenous advisory body into the Australian Constitution, while the senator says such a move will have little practical effect.

“I’m sad to see her go, as I respect her greatly as a fighter for her people,” Greens leader Adam Bandt told reporters. “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.”

In March, Senator Thorpe was pulled to the ground by police after she interfered with a speech being delivered by British women’s rights advocate Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker).

Several people tried to assist Thorpe with getting up, but the senator crawled away and then walked back towards a pro-LGBT+ counter-protest, in footage published online.