Lidia Thorpe quits Greens to pursue black sovereignty
The Greens will endorse an Indigenous voice to parliament after rogue Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe defected from the party vowing to lead a ‘black sovereign movement’.
The Greens will endorse an Indigenous voice to parliament after controversial senator Lidia Thorpe defected from the crossbench party vowing to lead a “black sovereign movement”.
Senator Thorpe’s resignation will make the Senate more challenging for the Albanese government to manoeuvre and comes as the Coalition holds out its support for legislation setting up the machinery for the voice referendum.
Adam Bandt announced his party’s support for the Yes campaign and declared “we want the referendum to succeed” following a partyroom meeting on Monday night, after Senator Thorpe became the first person ever to defect from the Greens.
The rogue Victorian senator said she decided to make her shock move because the Greens’ support for the advisory body was “at odds” with hardline Indigenous activists who wanted a national treaty first.
Mr Bandt warned that a No vote would not get the country closer to a treaty and truth-telling, and indicated the government had managed to assure the Greens sovereignty would not be ceded – a key demand of Senator Thorpe.
“Following months of discussion with Labor which resulted in funding for truth and treaty and guarantees that First Nations sovereignty will not be ceded, and after discussion with our party and our own Blak Greens network, the Greens will support the voice referendum,” Mr Bandt said.
“The referendum will be an opportunity for the country to show its support for First Nations justice.
“A strong First Nations body would be a further step towards true self-determination and justice. The Greens still strongly believe that a treaty should come first.
“We have secured commitments from the government that they will proceed with truth and treaty as well as voice, and we will be holding the government to account on this.”
Senator Thorpe, who was the Greens’ First Nations spokeswoman and is the co-founder of the Blak Greens, said she would continue to vote with the party on climate but wanted to “grow and amplify the black sovereign movement” in Australia.
Senator Thorpe has undermined the voice campaign for months through public comments rubbishing its purpose but did not announce her position on the advisory body on Monday.
“This country has a strong grassroots black sovereign movement, full of staunch and committed warriors and I want to represent that movement fully in this parliament,” Senator Thorpe said. “It has become clear to me that I can’t do that from within the Greens. Now I will be able to speak freely on all issues from a sovereign perspective, without being constrained by portfolios and agreed party positions.
“Greens MPs, members and supporters have told me they want to support the voice. This is at odds with the community of activists who are saying treaty before voice. This is the message delivered on the streets on January 26. This is the movement I was raised in, my elders marched for a treaty. This is who I am.”
Her resignation will be a blow for Mr Bandt, who has stuck by Senator Thorpe through several controversies. The party’s Senate representation will fall from 12 senators to 11. Senator Thorpe’s term ends in 2028.
Mr Bandt said he tried “very hard” to get Senator Thorpe to stay and proposed to her that she could remain the party’s First Nations spokeswoman while he took on all responsibilities on the voice, if she voted differently from the rest of the Greens as expected.
“The Greens will continue to work closely with Senator Thorpe on a range of issues and I thank her for committing to vote with the Greens on climate,” he said.
“I expect there’s a lot of Greens members and supporters and voters who feel like me and feel sad to see Senator Thorpe go but she’s made that decision.”
Senator Thorpe laid the groundwork in late January to split from her colleagues on the voice by telling her partyroom she would not support it unless satisfied it guaranteed First Nations sovereignty was not ceded.
Without the support of the Coalition, the government will now have to win over the Greens and two other crossbenchers to pass its agenda through the upper house. Liberal MPs said the voice would be raised at partyroom meetings on Tuesday as senior MPs in support of constitutional recognition appealed to the Prime Minister to “adjust course”.
“We owe it to the First Nations peoples of this country – and to our shared national story – to give this referendum every chance of success,” said opposition Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser.
“The government’s strategy must be: details first, referendum second. That’s how to make the idea of a voice a reality.”
Crossbench senator David Pocock was leaning towards supporting the government’s referendum machinery provisions amendment bill but no other independent senator was prepared to say on Monday they would vote for it.
The Coalition wants the government to restore the referendum information pamphlet sent to households and agree to fund the Yes and No campaigns evenly to reduce the opportunity for misinformation and ensure electoral integrity. Liberal MPs believe a position on the voice itself won’t be reached for some time and South Australian senator Simon Birmingham, the party’s leading moderate MP, said an absence of detail was hurting the Yes case.
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