Lidia Thorpe’s movement mobilising against Peter Dutton’s referendum without an Indigenous voice to parliament

Lidia Thorpe says the Albanese government should establish a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission to heal the country if the voice referendum fails.

Lidia Thorpe addresses a Stop Black Deaths In Custody rally, held against the backdrop of the voice referendum. Picture: Getty Images

Outspoken independent senator Lidia Thorpe has revealed the Black Sovereign Movement is already mobilising against a Peter Dutton-led second referendum solely on constitutional recognition, as she calls for a South ­African-style truth and reconciliation commission to progress truth and treaty if Saturday’s voice referendum fails.

The Victorian senator, who says she’s under siege and facing increased neo-Nazi threats during the referendum campaign, said she’d remained friends with deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi, who also “experiences ­racism”, after she quit the party over its support for the voice.

But the senator wasn’t on good terms with leader Adam Bandt.

“No, it’s too difficult, too much happened,” Senator Thorpe said.

“That’ll happen another day, when I leave politics maybe. I left good people at the Greens as well, they’re not all bad, just like Liberal and Labor and Nats and the rest of them. There’s good and bad in all of those areas. But that wasn’t an easy decision (to leave the Greens) because I tried to fix them and they couldn’t be fixed.”

While Senator Thorpe said she wouldn’t seek to be a member of the voice if the referendum was carried, she agreed the Black Sovereign Movement would work with the advisory body if it was invited to and called Anthony Albanese “weak” for not legislating the voice in the event of a No vote.

She told ABC radio it absolutely should be legislated if the referendum went down.

“If legislation comes into that parliament, saying that they want to set up another advisory body and it’s going to be fully representative of the people, as long as we’re not in that Constitution I’ll support it. We need all the help we can get in there,” Senator Thorpe said.

She was later forced to clarify she did not support the government’s proposal for a voice and said no representative body should be established “unless it is the product of free, prior and informed consent of the First Peoples of this country”.

Under Senator Thorpe’s proposal for a “truth and justice commission”, all Australians, in­clu­ding One Nation supporters like her dad, would participate at a local government level to decide how to achieve treaty and truth-telling.

Father of reconciliation Patrick Dodson on Wednesday warned Australia would need to take a path similar to South Africa following the abolishment of apartheid in order to heal if the referendum failed.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and have a truth and justice commission like South Africa, have a look at their model and try and bring healing through understanding and truth. That’s what I want to continue to drive,” Senator Thorpe said.

“I want to bring people like the One Nation supporters, including my dad who loves me, into a space where we’re all safe and no one is hurting anyone anymore.”