Labor MP Marion Scrymgour sets the lawyers on Lidia Thorpe
Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has launched legal action against independent senator Lidia Thorpe, claiming the former Greens MP implied she had been corrupt before coming to parliament.
Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has launched legal action against independent senator Lidia Thorpe, claiming the former Greens MP implied she had been corrupt before coming to parliament.
Ms Scrymgour, who was elected to the NT seat of Lingiari in 2022, accused Senator Thorpe of engaging in “hate speech” and repeating defamatory statements made in parliament on social media.
Ms Scrymgour said Senator Thorpe made a number of “statements masquerading as questions” in Senate estimates earlier this month when she grilled Northern Land Council officials about the Labor MP’s role in the organisation before entering politics.
“Is anyone aware of any advice given to Ms Scrymgour about using stimulus grants to garner support for her political aspirations?” Senator Thorpe asked officials on June 7.
Senator Thorpe also alleged Ms Scrymgour, who was the Northern Land Council chief executive between 2018 and 2021, had misappropriated $400,000 in Covid stimulus funds to “build a holiday house” for her family at Twin Hill Station.
Despite all the comments being made in a Senate committee, and thus being subject to parliamentary privilege, Ms Scrymgour said the fact Senator Thorpe had shared the video from estimates on social media had caused “additional damage”.
“Her statements were … clearly aimed at damaging my reputation,” Ms Scrymgour said in the lower house on Monday.
“They wrongly attributed to me conduct which I deny … I am not the only NT female Aboriginal politicians who has been irresponsibly targeted in this way.
“I have engaged lawyers in relation to this social media post.”
In a statement released later on Monday, Ms Scrymgour said she had serious concerns about how Senator Thorpe had used parliamentary privilege to “launch personal attacks” against herself and fellow Labor MP Malarndirri McCarthy.
“Mud sticks. Once it is thrown, stories and rumours often get a new lease of life because of the further publicity that will usually be given to any response,” she said.
Ms Scrymgour said Senator Thorpe had exploited the “formalised system” of parliamentary privilege to protect herself and her statements, which the NT MP said “descended into what I would regard as hate speech”.
After Ms Scrymgour’s address to parliament about her intention to pursue legal action, Senator Thorpe’s social media posts containing the videos from June 7 were deleted.
Senator Thorpe said budget estimates was “a time to scrutinise the administration of public money and adherence to good governance” and stood by her lines of questioning.
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