Coalition Senator Jacinta Price calls for Lidia Thorpe to be removed from parliament

A stoush over the sidelining of the Australian flag has ended up with a Northern Territory senator calling for a fellow Indigenous politician to be removed from her position.

TERRITORY Coalition Senator Jacinta Price has called for outspoken Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe to be removed from parliament.

Senator Thorpe, who like Ms Price is Indigenous, told Network 10 on Wednesday that Parliament was “a colonial project” and that she doesn’t consider herself Australian.

She endorsed her leader Adam Bandt’s decision to remove the Australian flag from a press conference.

Mr Bandt’s symbolic move has prompted mixed reactions, with condemnation from both Labor and the Coalition and approval from some on the left of Australian politics.

But now Senator Price has waded into the debate, telling ABC Radio National that if Senator Thorpe is “not Australian”, there are grounds to remove her from parliament.

Greens Senator for Victoria Lidia Thorpe has claimed she is not an Australian. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has hit back, saying Ms Thorpe should be removed from parliament. Picture: Chloe Erlich

“I don’t think her intentions are to represent her constituents,” she said.

“As she’s mentioned herself, she’s there to infiltrate.

“She sees it, as she says, as a colonial project.”

Ms Price said she was considering talking to the Governor-General about the matter and argued these debates did little to improve the plight of Indigenous Australians.

“If (Senator Thorpe) doesn’t even view herself as an Australian, why is she there representing Australians, whether they Victorian Australians or otherwise,” she said.

Senator Thorpe’s office was contacted for a response.

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Originally published as Coalition Senator Jacinta Price calls for Lidia Thorpe to be removed from parliament