Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has responded to resignation calls during an interview with Radio National, where the senator expressed her disinterest in pandering to the conservative caucus.
Speaking about her intentions, the senator said: “I’m not looking to be re-elected – I’m looking to get justice for my people.”
“I will be there for another three years, everybody. So, you know, get used to truth-telling.”
The response came after senator Lidia Thorpe’s powerful protest, calling for treaty and truth-telling at the Parliament House event for King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Charles had just addressed the room of MPs and senators, reflecting on his time as a student in Australia, the learnings of the pandemic and the country’s vulnerability to climate change, when the senator approached the stage announcing: “This is not your country.”
“You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.”
Thorpe continued: “You destroyed our land. Give us a Treaty. We want a Treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist.”
As the senator was being escorted from the room, she didn’t hold back, declaring, “This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king,” before her final shouts of “F**k the colony!” were heard from the foyer.
Enter the nation’s most ardent “free speech advocates” (ahem) including Peter Dutton, who jumped at the chance to stir up conflict and division with calls for the senator’s resignation.
Speaking to Channel Seven’s Sunrise program, Dutton proclaimed, “If you were really truly about your cause and not just about yourself, then I think that’s a decision that you would make.”
Continuing, “My reaction was that, ‘here we go again’. It was entirely predictable, all about herself. It doesn’t advance any cause that she’s interested in. It’s really just a self-promotion thing, which is why I don’t think we should give it any attention.”
Responding to Dutton’s comments, Thorpe – a proud Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung Indigenous woman – told Radio National “Every time I see him [Dutton] in parliament he walks in the opposite direction, so he never wants to sit down and have a conversation.”
“My approach, unfortunately, might upset a few people, but how else do you get your message across when we [are] continually shut down as Blak women? The only people they want to hear from are ones that conform and speak nicely, but do nothing about getting justice for our people.”
Continuing, Thorpe defended her decision to bring her protest to the halls of Parliament House, stating: “His family and his kingdom are absolutely responsible for what happened to my people in this country. They came to the shores with guns … Has he done anything about it? If you stay silent, then you are complicit.”
Speaking to National Indigenous Times on Monday evening, Senator Lidia Thorpe expressed her frustration at the headlines criticising her actions, revealing she had already written to King Charles III several times about the need for Treaty and restorative justice, but received no response from the monarch.
“I have a responsibility – we all have a responsibility to our elders,” she said in a video interview with the publication.
“We have to continue to resist this occupation in a way that forces them to come to our table and talk about peace. And what does peace look like? Peace looks like a Treaty.”
The senator went on to say: “Let’s go down the process of a Treaty, let’s work out what we want for our people, our families, our language groups and put that on the table.”
Before ending her response, Thorpe addressed the global headlines, stating, “I will keep resisting, I will keep fighting for our Old People, and here’s to the Blak Sovereign Movement because we have the world stage right now and I ain’t ceding my sovereignty.”
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
