Lidia Thorpe says yes vote won’t necessarily speak for Indigenous

Controversial senator Lidia Thorpe has issued a warning to Anthony Albanese ahead of the referendum.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has not yet made a final decision on which side of the Voice debate she will sit on, but warned the government must be prepared to hear the case of the “progressive no”.

Senator Thorpe – who earlier this month defected from the Greens to sit as an independent speaking for the Blak sovereign movement - said “progressive no’s” wanted something more powerful than the “powerless voice” the Albanese government is championing.

She said it was a “sad state of affairs” that white Australians would ultimately make the decision that impacts First Nations people.

Senator Thorpe said the voices of Indigenous people risked being drowned out by the “loud” yes campaign, bank rolled by corporate Australia.

“It is going to be a lot louder than those grassroots black fellas on the ground who have very serious issues with the proposal,” she said in a sometimes-testy interview on ABC Radio.

“And that’s a shame because at the end of the day, we are only three per cent (of the population).

Lidia Thorpe quit the Greens earlier this month to sit as an independent for the ‘Blak sovereign movement’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“So it’s the progressives in this country that will make the decision for us ultimately, and that’s a sad state of affairs in this country that white progressives think they know best for us.

“They think that this is a good thing for us, but they haven’t dug deep enough and allowed those grassroots blak activists to have a say.”

She said the most pressing matter was to immediately implement findings of the royal commissions.

Asked whether she believed she would be any closer to her aims if the referendum failed, Senator Thorpe said “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”.

“Well, I think what this country doesn’t realise is that the grassroots people in this country who have no say, the ones who are dying, the ones who are being stolen, and the ones who are [saying] let us make decisions for ourselves,” she said when pressed further.

“That’s what I have to uphold. And I’m not giving anything to anybody until I see justice in this country for our people.

“What the progressives don’t understand out there is that we’re still attending funerals every day, while everyone is telling us how great the Voice is going to be for us. It is still not too late, it’s still not too late to question what this Voice actually means for us. It has no power.

“It has no power. Why is everyone so excited.”

She said she had written to the Prime Minister about meeting with the referendum working group, saying that she wanted to bring her views to the table.

“I feel that the PM is talking in you know, forked tongues, basically. He’s saying to the conservatives, look, it’s okay everybody. It has no power. We will have the ultimate power. They’re just an advisory body,” she said.

“Then he goes to the black people and he says this is going to save the world, this is going to save the culture.”

Senator Thorpe said she had not yet made a final position on the Voice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Senator Thorpe’s comments come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese prepares to launch the “yes” campaign in Adelaide on Thursday night.

He has indicated the referendum will be held between October and December this year, and if successful, a body would be legislated by the end of this term of government.

The Greens support the voice, while the Nationals do not.

The Liberal Party has yet to reach a final decision, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is still pushing for detail – but he is engaged with working groups.

When asked if it troubled her that she might “end up on the side with” Mr Dutton and the Liberals, Senator Thorpe said that was a view dripping in systemic racism.

“It troubles me that white progressives use that as an excuse, and that’s part of the problem that, you know, if you vote no you’re going to stand with Peter Dutton or Pauline Hanson,” she said.

“So that’s another way of taking away the voice of those grassroots black fellas who have a progressive no that the white progressives don’t want to hear.

“And that’s part of the problem – that’s systemic racism right there, and everyone’s ‘hand on heart, let’s save the Aborigines (sic), let’s give them a voice, let’s give them advisory power’, with no power.”

Originally published as Lidia Thorpe says yes vote won’t necessarily speak for Indigenous