Lidia Thorpe’s dad says she’s racist against whites as she hits back after incident outside strip club

Lidia Thorpe’s dad has taken an outrageous swipe at his daughter as the firebrand senator makes headlines as she pushes her Blak Sovereign ideal.

Firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe’s estranged father has given an extraordinary interview, where he says his proudly Indigenous daughter is “a very racist person”.
Roy Illingworth has told Andrew Bolt on his Sky News program he’s “disappointed” by how his controversial daughter had abandoned her English and Irish roots.

“The way I see it, the way she is and the way she’s changed over the years, she’s a very racist person against white people,” Mr Illingworth told The Bolt Report on Thursday night.

“She doesn’t acknowledge any of her white side. I’m a bit disappointed in the way she’s been carrying on lately.

“Because after all, she does have English background as well as Irish, the convict side.

“She’s never, ever mentioned me in her speeches; never mentioned anything about a white father, which disappointed me a little bit.”

Lidia Thorpe's father speaks out against his daughter: 'She's a very racist person' Picture: Sky News

Mr Illingworth acknowledged the pair had fallen out, even though she rings him for Father’s Day and his birthday. But said he had no contact with her children.
“She’s said a lot of bad and evil things to me over the years,” he said.
“We still love each other and at the end of the day she’s still my daughter.”

He said her claims she’d always been oppressed were wrong.

“She was really spoilt. She never went without anything growing up. She got everything she wanted and she knows that.”

He said she became politicised at 16 or 17, and “turned racist” as she ran to become a politician.

But, unlike Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mr Illingworth does not believe she needs help for mental health issues.

“She’s just a strong woman ... that’s the way she’s always be.”

Lidia Thorpe's father Ray Illingworth says the pair rarely speak

Senator Thorpe has been the centre of a number of controversial incidents, including most recently when she was involved in an altercation with a group of men outside Maxine’s Gentlemen’s Club in Melbourne on the weekend.

Footage surfaced of that incident where Senator Thorpe is heard taunting the men – one of whom called her a racist dog – over their race and for having a “small penis.”

In a statement to 7News, who first aired the video, Senator Thorpe said she was responding to harassment and had not started the exchange.

On Wednesday the Prime Minister said her behaviour was “clearly unacceptable” and urged the Greens defector to “get some support.”

But Senator Thorpe hit back at Mr Albanese's suggestion she “get some help”, calling it a “continuation of racist and misogynistic” narratives.

Senator Lidia Thorpe has hit back at the Prime Minister after he told her to “get some help” after she publicly abused a group of men outside a strip club over the weekend. Picture: 7 News

Addressing the incident in a statement on Thursday, the Blak Sovereign senator said the incident had been a product of racism, and that she had stood up for herself.

“No one was hurt. The story should be about the racists brazenly harassing a senator. The story is that I can’t go out without being harassed by racists – this is the racism Blak people deal with everyday in this colony,” she said.

“The racism that sees children removed at record rates … Meanwhile the racists are free to walk around and harass Blak women without consequences.”

Making reference to the Prime Minister’s comments, Senator Thorpe said there was a history of “white men in power using the media to attack and demonise Blak people that stand up to racism”.

“Saying I need some ‘mental help’ is a continuation of the old racist and misogynistic narrative used to discredit and silence outspoken and strong women, particularly Blak women,” she said.

“I am disappointed by the opportunism of politicians in Canberra – including the PM – using this to drag me down.

“But more than that I am heartened and inspired by the hundreds of messages of support I’ve received from every corner of the country.

“While the Prime Minister and others have used this to try and undermine my progress, I have been busy out in community talking to First Nations leaders about solutions to the problems our people face everyday.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Ms Thorpe’s actions were not those of anyone who should be participating in society” in a normal way. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

The weekend’s incident, which occurred at about 3am on Sunday, has led to Senator Thorpe’s lifetime ban from Maxine’s, which described itself as host of the “hottest adult entertainers in Melbourne.”
Senator Thorpe has made more headlines since she sensationally quit the Greens last year over the party’s stand on the Voice to Parliament.
She’s headlined an angry rally on Australia Day at Victoria’s Parliament House and lay down in front of a float at the Mardi Gras parade.

Originally published as Lidia Thorpe’s dad says she’s racist against whites as she hits back after incident outside strip club