Lidia Thorpe eyes outcome of Greens leadership

Members of Greens believe Lidia Thorpe and an outspoken Greens First Nations faction are meddling in the minor party’s policies and upcoming leadership battle.

Senator Lidia Thorpe left the Greens in 2023 Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Senior Greens figures believe Lidia Thorpe is using an outspoken Greens First Nation’s faction to meddle in the minor party’s policies and upcoming leadership battle, claiming the firebrand defector is eyeing a return to the Greens to cement her influence in parliament.

But Senator Thorpe – who quit the party in 2023 over her opposition to an Indigenous voice to parliament – emphatically denied suggestions she was seeking to rejoin the Greens, arguing such claims were being made in an effort to progress personal agendas ahead of the party’s vote on a new leader, to be held on Thursday.

The leadership battle is the party’s first in more than a decade, triggered by the loss of three lower house seats including that of leader Adam Bandt, and sparking discussion over whether the Greens should return their focus chiefly to climate, rather than the conflict in Gaza and domestic policy issues.

As the Australian Greens First Nations Network agitated for Senator Mehreen Faruqi to be elected through widespread emails and a formal endorsement last week, several sources in the party’s parliamentary and organisational wings revealed their belief that Senator Thorpe was involved in the campaign, given her past affiliation to AGFNN, and was looking to re-enter the party.

“Lidia (Thorpe) wants back in the Greens. (There’s) no secret in that,” one senior Greens source told The Australian.

Another confirmed the numbers in the Senate, in which the Greens hold the balance of power, had fuelled the desire for Senator Thorpe to rejoin the party.

Without joining or rejoining a party, Senator Thorpe is due to run as an independent at the next election, due by 2028.

But she denied the claims she was looking to rejoin the Greens and said it was “condescending” to assume the AGFNN – also known as the Blak Greens – couldn’t “make their own decisions”.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe and Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi at a press conference at Parliament House last year Picture: NewsWire / David Beach

“I have no interest in or plans to rejoin the Greens. There is no basis for this claim,” she said.

“It seems those making these claims are doing so in an attempt to interfere with the Greens’ leadership selection. It’s dirty and petty politicking.

“It’s condescending to suggest the Blak Greens can’t make their own decisions about their role within the party.”

Inaugural co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Marcus Stewart said it was well understood that Senator Thorpe still had significant influence over corners of the Greens party and claimed her influence would grow under Senator Faruqi as leader.

“If anyone thinks (Senator) Thorpe has no influence inside of the Greens they are kidding themselves,” Mr Stewart, who is married to ALP senator Jana Stewart, said.

“That influence will only grow under the leadership of Senator Faruqi and could be a potential electoral kiss of death for the Greens party.

“You only need to look at the Blak Greens, a handful of people claiming to be a movement of thousands. (Senator) Thorpe has allegedly weaponised this group to undermine a competent senator in Dorinda Cox.”

Senator Thorpe said Mr Stewart’s comments should be taken with “a big grain of salt”, given the “clear conflict of interest” held by the husband of a Labor senator.

The Blak Greens – a group described within the party as “dysfunctional” and which was found to have “failed” First Nations Greens members in a review by MurriMatters last year – formally endorsed Senator Faruqi as leader last week and signed an open letter by the NSW Young Greens supporting the Pakistani-born senator.

At a meeting on May 10, the Blak Greens backed Senator Faruqi while calling on Dorinda Cox – an ex-police officer seen as too moderate by the hard left – to be stripped of the Indigenous Australians portfolio.

“The First Nations portfolio (must) be moved to Senator Mehreen Faruqi,” the motion said.

Senator Faruqi was contacted for comment over the endorsement by the Blak Greens and whether she would allow Senator Thorpe to rejoin the party, but did not respond by deadline.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has been endorsed by the Blak Greens for the party leadership Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

The Blak Greens agreed that Senator Hanson-Young should not be appointed as the next Australian Greens leader because she “would not be an effective leader in implementing Australian Greens policies relating to First Nations Issues, racial justice, social justice (and) the liberation of the Palestinian people”.

On Tuesday, the Australian Young Greens also proposed a motion opposing Senator Hanson-Young.

The revelations expose the view among some members of the Greens that Senator Faruqi would be a far more outspoken leader on issues such as Palestinian recognition compared to contenders like Senator Hanson-Young or Senator Larissa Waters, who was described by members of her party on Wednesday as the “consensus candidate”.

Questions over whether the Greens’ stance on Palestine, which included supporting protests that blocked some Labor MPs’ offices and accusing the major parties of being “complicit in genocide”, was one of the key reasons why the party lost all but one lower house seat.

Some Greens MPs told The Australian they hoped the lesson taken from the loss of almost all lower house seats was to get back to the “bread and butter” issues the Greens party was founded on: climate and the environment.

“Many of us joined the Greens to do this work,” one MP said.

The view that climate should return as the central focus for the party may mean Greens MPs throw their support behind Senator Hanson-Young on Thursday afternoon, given the South Australian senator was the Greens’ environment spokeswoman.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s elevation to the leadership would be a sign the Greens will return to its core environmental policies Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

However, other Greens MPs have argued that the reason the party lost seats at the election was because of preference flows and the impact of campaigns by powerful lobby groups in sectors such as coal and gas.

“It turns out when you take on the property industry, the war industry, the fossil fuel industry and billionaires all at once, it’s a bloody hard job,” Greens senator David Shoebridge told Sky News on Sunday.

While it is understood all three senators are seeking the leadership, Greens sources told The Australian an agreement may yet be reached between the candidates on who would take up the reins for the next three years, rather than a formal ballot being taken in the partyroom.

Since quitting the Greens, Senator Thorpe has continued to draw significant attention in parliament through actions such as refusing to pledge allegiance to the crown and yelling at King Charles’ royal visit, accusing his family of having “stolen land” from her people.

Senator Thorpe was affiliated to the Blak Greens when she was elected in 2022, up until she quit the party the year after over her opposition to the Indigenous voice to parliament. However, she is still understood to be closely linked to the group.