Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has discussed her unexpected alliances with political foes and claims that former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett previously approached her about running for the Liberal Party.
Senator Malcolm Roberts of the One Nation was referred to as “a real gentleman” and Senator Matt Canavan of the Nationals was referred to as “an old mate from way back” by Senator Thorpe, who formerly served as a Greens senator but is now a member of the crossbench.
Senator Thorpe remarked, “It’s weird, it’s really weird,” to Kitchen Cabinet.
“I just kind of treat it like white line fever on the netball court.
“Once I’m in the Senate, I’m there on business. I have an agenda, and that goal is to advance Black justice in this nation.
“And then outside of the court, I’ll be your friend.”
She claimed that Mr. Kennett invited her to run for the Liberals, and he corroborated her account.
When Senator Thorpe was serving in the Victorian legislature, he claimed to have met her and enquired about her interest in joining the Liberal Party and running as a Liberal candidate in future elections.
She had strong opinions, and I thought she was an interesting character, Mr. Kennett recalled.
I value individuals with strong opinions. That does not mean that we always have the same opinions.
“In life, you want people who are going to challenge you, and she certainly does that.”
Despite the federal government sending invitations to the opposition and the teal independents, new independent senator Lidia Thorpe claims she was never asked to the working committee on the referendum.
“You’ve got no hope,” she said. “But thank you for considering me. I’m incredibly grateful for it.
This cordial relationship, however, does not include Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, whom Senator Thorpe claims she has made repeated attempts to see.
“I believe he avoids me. I believe he has met his match, and he is just unable to handle it. She spoke.
“Hey Dutton!’ you know ‘come over and have a yarn’ I call out to him all the time, and he just goes off.
It’s okay that he doesn’t want to get to know me.
According to Lidia Thorpe, she has friends in the Senate from all political backgrounds.
She claimed that she did not believe that the discovery of these odd friendships would surprise her supporters.
Senator Thorpe responded, “They know how I work; I mean, I do what I have to do to do the job.
“And if that means talking to people who don’t share my values, then that’s what you’ve got to do,” she said.
Sen. Thorpe’s parliamentary career has been rocky since she was elected to the federal legislature for the Greens in 2020.
It has included newsworthy incidents like referring to the Queen as a colonizer when she was taking the oath of office and utilizing parliamentary privilege to bring up charges of improper behavior in the parliament.
While serving on a law enforcement committee last year, she also acknowledged to having an unreported relationship with an ex-bikie president. Most recently, she left the Green Party to run as an independent in response to the party’s stance on the Voice to Parliament vote.
She left school at age 14 because of racism in the educational system, according to Senator Thorpe.
She then felt like the de facto cultural consultant when she entered politics as the first Indigenous woman to sit in the Victorian parliament.
She emphasized that she finds dealing with “white guilt” more difficult to handle than racism in general.
“I’ve had people cry to me about their white guilt,” she remarked.
“They just drain your energy, they just want to spend so much time to have some kind of an understanding and want to be appreciated for whatever they’re doing, which has no bearing on our life,” one person said.
