Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 18 August 1973) is an Australian politician. She has been a senator for Victoria since 2020 and is the first Aboriginal senator from that state. She was a member of the Australian Greens until February 2023, when she quit the party over disagreements concerning the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, and became a key figure in the "progressive No" campaign against the Voice referendum in October 2023. Thorpe served as the Greens' deputy leader in the Senate from June to October 2022.
Thorpe has previously been a member of the Victorian Parliament. On winning the Northcote state by-election on 18 November 2017, she became the first known Aboriginal woman elected to the state's parliament. She served as the member for the division of Northcote in the Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2018.
Thorpe has received media attention for her support of the Indigenous sovereignty movement and her criticism of the legitimacy of Australian political institutions, which she views as the legacy of colonialism.Lidia Thorpe's 'burn down Parliament House' remark faces AFP probe; abc.net.au; 13 October 2025
Early life and education Lidia Alma Thorpe was born on 18 August 1973 in Carlton, Victoria, to Roy Illingworth and Marjorie Thorpe. She is of English, Irish, Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara descent.
Thorpe grew up in Housing Commission flats in Collingwood and went to Gold Street Primary School in Clifton Hill. She studied Year 7 at Fitzroy High School, Year 8 at Collingwood High, returned to Fitzroy High for Year 9, but left soon afterwards, at the age of 14. She has stated that, at school, she was harassed "as a black kid," and she would retaliate by punching "boys and the girls out," instead of which, now, she says, "I’ve learnt to use my mouth."
Her first job was working with her uncle Robbie Thorpe at the Koori Information Centre at 120 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, which at that time was "a hub of Black political activity". She says that from that day onward, she has worked continuously, apart from six-month breaks after the birth of each of her children.
She won the 2021 Social Impact Award from Swinburne University of Technology, from which she graduated in 2007 with a Diploma of Community Development.In a 2018 interview, Thorpe said, "I was born into politics, know nothing else." See IndigenousX (2018).
Early career Thorpe has worked as a project manager with the East Gippsland Shire Council, Indigenous manager at Centrelink and manager at Lake Tyers Aboriginal Training Centre.
Thorpe was the co-chair of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee from 2014 to 2017.
Bankruptcy In 2013, Thorpe was declared bankrupt with over in debts, including monies owed to Indigenous Business Australia and owed to the Australian Taxation Office. She said that her bankruptcy resulted from domestic violence, stating "like many survivors of family violence, I ended up losing everything in a bid to protect myself and my family from an impossible situation". Her ex-husband, who was an alcoholic, confirmed her account of the marriage breakdown. She was discharged from bankruptcy in 2016.
Victorian Legislative Assembly
Thorpe won the seat of Northcote at the 2017 by-election on 18 November 2017 after receiving 45.22% of the primary vote, which became 50.93% after the distribution of preferences. She was sworn in as a member of parliament on 28 November 2017 and delivered her first speech to the assembly the following day. Thorpe was the Australian Greens Victoria portfolio holder for Aboriginal Justice, Consumer Affairs, Skills and Training, Sport and Mental Health.
In May 2018, she organised a historic gathering of Aboriginal Elders at the Parliament of Victoria to discuss the state's treaty processes. The meeting was organised as part of Thorpe's campaign to implement clan-based treaties, which would recognise the approximately 100 Aboriginal clans in Victoria. At the time, Thorpe said: "Our sovereignty and each of our language groups and our Clans must be clearly recognised in the government's treaty advancement legislation." The delegation of clan elders unanimously agreed to form an elders council. Thorpe supported the Victorian Government's 2018 treaty bill, but stated that she would continue to push for clan sovereignty to be recognised as the treaty process advances.
Thorpe lost her seat to Labor candidate Kat Theophanous at the 2018 Victorian state election, with her term finishing on 19 December 2018. She told ABC Radio Melbourne: "We need to have a good look at ourselves and have a review of what this election has done to our party, losing quite a considerable amount of Greens members." She said Labor ran a "dirty campaign" against her but conceded that negative coverage due to internal party scandals had also contributed to her defeat.
Senate
In June 2020, Thorpe was preselected by Victorian Greens members to fill the federal Senate vacancy created by former leader Richard Di Natale's resignation. She was appointed to the vacancy at a joint sitting of the Victorian Parliament on 4 September and sworn in on 6 October 2020. She is the first Aboriginal woman to represent Victoria in the Senate and the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian from the Greens.
Following the May 2022 federal election, at which she was re-elected, Thorpe was elected by the Greens party as its deputy leader in the Senate.
In a speech to Parliament in May 2021, Thorpe commented negatively on bail legislation being introduced into the Northern Territory and expressed the assumption that the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory is a white male. The Attorney-General, Selena Uibo, an Aboriginal woman, commented that Thorpe is not qualified to speak on Northern Territory issues.
In December 2021, Thorpe interjected to speaking Liberal senator Hollie Hughes the remark, "at least, I keep my legs shut", during a Senate discussion about people living with disabilities. When challenged on the remark, Thorpe told the Chamber: "I just got a view of something over there that disturbed me. But I'm happy to retract." Hughes viewed the statement as a reference to her autistic son, and was reportedly left in tears. During a debate later in the evening, Thorpe commented to Hollie Hughes that "at least I keep my legs shut". When challenged, Thorpe retracted her comment and apologised to Hughes. She said the comment was not a reference to Hughes's family.
In a June 2022 interview, Thorpe said that the parliament has "no permission to be here [in Australia]" and that she’s a parliament member "only" so she can "infiltrate" the "colonial project." She added that the Australian flag had "no permission to be" in the land. Aboriginal, conservative senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price denounced Thorpe's comments as "divisive" and "childish," and called for her dismissal from the parliament.
In August 2022, during her swearing-in ceremony, Thorpe added the words "the colonising" in the required Oath of Allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, saying: I Lidia Thorpe do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the colonising Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Australia, Her heirs and successors according to law. Thorpe was immediately criticised by fellow senators. After an instruction by Labor the President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines and interjections from others that the oath must be taken word-by-word, Thorpe recited the pledge once more, this time omitting the two words.
On 16 April 2023, footage emerged of Thorpe in a verbal altercation with men outside a Melbourne strip club. Thorpe was filmed telling a number of people they had a "small penis" and were "marked". She stated the men provoked the altercation by harassing her. The manager of the club said she provoked the incident by approaching white patrons, telling them they had "stolen her land;" he announced he was banning Thorpe from the club "for life."
During a 2023 parliamentary hearing, while questioning the allocation of funding to Northern Territory police forces, Thorpe walked out of a Senate Estimates hearing after being called a "disgrace to her people" by Labor's assistant minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy, Aboriginal senator for the Northern Territory.
On 14 June 2023, during the Senate's examination of the 2021 allegations of sexual misconduct in the institution, Thorpe accused Senator David Van of sexually assaulting her in the premises. Van denied the allegation as "disgusting," "unfounded and completely untrue," though he admitted that in 2021 he had moved his office after Thorpe had submitted complaints about "his conduct in parliament". Van was expelled from the Liberal Party.
When asked about her relations with Senate colleagues, Thorpe stated she gets along well with Malcolm Roberts of One Nation and Matt Canavan of the National Party, despite Roberts and Canavan coming from the opposite end of the ideological spectrum.
Relationship with bikie gang ex-president While holding the justice portfolio for the Greens party and serving on the joint parliamentary law-enforcement committee, Thorpe was in a relationship with Dean Martin, ex-president of the Rebels outlaw bikie gang. She had not disclosed the relationship to Greens leader Adam Bandt, who became aware of the relationship after the ABC published a report. Thorpe resigned her portfolio at Bandt's request.
On 20 October 2021, it was reported that, following a complaint from one of her staff, the Department of Finance was reviewing the "culture" of Thorpe's office.
On 24 October 2022, Thorpe referred herself to the Senate privileges committee about her relationship with Martin.
"Colonial system is burning" tweet
Following an arson attack on Old Parliament House, Canberra in December 2021, the Greens Senator shared a video of the fire taking hold at the entrance to the building, with the words: "Seems like the colonial system is burning down. Happy New Year everyone." The tweet was widely criticised. Labor MP Mark Butler said "it is beyond me how a member of the Australian parliament — who receives a salary from taxpayers — can applaud an outrageous act of vandalism on the centrepiece of Australian democracy."Canberra Indigenous leaders say protesters who allegedly set fire to Old Parliament House do not represent Aboriginal tent embassy; abc.net.au, 31 December 2021.
Resignation from the Greens' deputy leadership On 20 October 2022, ABC News revealed that Thorpe had been dating Martin in 2021. Thorpe resigned from her position as Greens' deputy leader in the Senate, shortly after.
Following the revelation, Thorpe faced a censure motion in the Senate. ALP senator Helen Polley, the head of the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee, of which Thorpe had been a member, said, with regard to Thorpe's position as a senator: "She should consider if it's the right place for her".
Thorpe stated she continues to be friends with Martin.
In March 2023, a parliamentary investigation cleared Thorpe of contempt of parliament. The committee found that Thorpe did not disclose any sensitive information to Martin, but stated she should have declared their relationship to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest.
Resignation from the Greens On 6 February 2023, Thorpe announced that she would resign from the Greens to become an independent senator, sitting on the cross-bench, over disagreements concerning the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament. In a statement, Thorpe stated that "This country has a strong grassroots Blak Sovereign Movement, full of staunch and committed warriors and I want to represent that movement fully in this Parliament. It has become clear to me that I can't do that from within the Greens."
Progressive No in the 2023 Referendum