Australian Federal Police (AFP) will investigate whether independent Senator Lidia Thorpe violated laws when she told a rally she was prepared to “burn down Parliament House” in support of Palestinians.
Senator Thorpe said her remarks at a pro-Palestine rally were “clearly” a figure of speech.
But the AFP confirmed it would consider whether the comments breached legislation.
“This will be done methodically,” an AFP spokesperson said. “It is not the usual practice of the AFP to provide a running commentary on matters.
Home Affairs Minister Calls for Cooler Heads to Prevail
Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security Tony Burke had called for Australians to bring the political temperature down after the former Greens senator’s speech to the pro-Palestine rally.Addressing the Melbourne crowd on Oct. 12, she said: “We stand with you every day, and we will fight every day, and we will turn up every day, and if I have to burn down Parliament House to make a point … I am not there to make friends.”
The comments predictably drew strong criticism.
Quizzed on the comments during ABC Radio National’s Oct. 13 morning broadcasts, Burke said elected officials shouldn’t be attempting to ramp up hostilities.
“The concept of wanting to inflame, push the temperature up, is not what anyone should be doing, least of all a member of parliament,” he said.
“I’m not going to respond to that by increasing the heat in the opposite direction.
“I really think it’s just a time for turning the temperature down because there are two things ... two things that Australians have been wanting. They’ve been wanting the killing to end, and they’ve been wanting to make sure that the conflict’s not brought here. We might be looking right now at the chance for the killing to end. So, let’s also try to calm things down here.”
When asked if Thorpe’s comments were appropriate, Burke said, “Of course they’re not.”
“I just don’t think there’s any benefit and certainly no benefit to social cohesion by me responding by getting angrier and ramping it up,” he said.
As for any potential action Thorpe may face, Burke said it was down to the processes put in place by the Senate.
“There’s particular processes that the Senate sometimes uses on these. We deal with these things differently in the House so I'll leave that for the Senate,” he said.
Burke said he was hopeful the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza would hold.
“There’s been many false starts, but I can’t remember a time where there has been a greater level of hope than there is right now,” he said.
“I think the whole world right now is in a situation of where despair is turning to hope but we are not there yet.
“I really feel for the people who have family members, whether they be people they love who’ve been held hostage or people they love who’ve been subjected to months and years of conflict and longer that they are just seeing a crack of light right now and hoping that it’s real.
Condemnation of Comments
Cabinet Minister Tanya Plibersek said the comments were “absolutely irresponsible.”“We need to focus on what we can do here in Australia. That is, support a two-state solution and support whatever we can do to bring and assure peace in the Middle East,” she told Sunrise.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said he was watching to see if the Senate would act on Thorpe’s comments.
“It demands a strong response of condemnation,” he said.
“Senator Thorpe is turning into a pyromaniac. Now, she is talking about ‘from the river to the sea,’ which has nothing to do with peace—it is to wipe out the Jewish people from Israel.”
Joyce noted that Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, U.S. President Donald Trump, and the Arab nations had already all agreed on the plan to end the war.
“So, what are they protesting about? It shows it’s not so much about what is happening in Gaza, it is a lot about getting rid of Jewish people by the sounds of things,” he said.
“It’s about ‘we don’t like the Jews,’ That in itself demands a response.”
