‘Still at war’: Lidia Thorpe casts doubt over Greens’ support

The Greens’ First Nations spokeswoman accused Labor of taking a ‘top-down’ approach to the voice rather than building it through grassroots voices.

Lidia Thorpe says Australia is ‘still at war’ and an Indigenous voice to parliament wouldn’t necessarily change that.

Greens’ First Nations spokeswoman Lidia Thorpe says Australia is “still at war” and that an Indigenous voice to parliament is not the answer to ending that conflict, signalling rising Left-wing opposition to enshrining the advisory body in the constitution.

It comes as organisers of “Invasion Day” rallies across the country flagged they would campaign against the voice on Australia Day on Thursday.

Senator Thorpe’s comments throw into question whether the Greens will support the voice, a decision they will make early next month at a partyroom meeting. She has previously made clear her support for the voice would be conditional on recommendations being acted upon from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the 1997 Bringing them Home report on Indigenous child removals.

However, on Tuesday Ms Thorpe told the Guardian that Labor was taking a “top-down” approach, rather than including grassroots voices, and said the voice risked being nothing but a “tokenistic” body.

“What is an advisory body that has parliamentary power over it? It’s really a joke,” she said.

Ms Thorpe says her support for the voice would rely on recommendations from previous Royal Commissions and reports on the treatment of Aboriginals.

“We want seats in parliament that deliver real power, not tokenistic power that is subject to the parliament, and that’s what this will be.” She said the “war” in Australia would not end until truth-telling took place and treaties were struck with Indigenous people.

“The war is not over so we have to continue to fight the war,” she said. “Every Invasion Day is a reminder that we are still at war.

“Until that war ends, until we have a treaty in this country, we’ll always be at war, so people need to show up on Invasion Day and they need to stand with us in solidarity.” Organisers of Invasion Day protests have made clear they will campaign against the voice on January 26.

A statement from organisers of the Melbourne rally said: “While the nation debates our position in its Constitution, we remind people that we are over 50 years on since the last successful referendum and ask people what has changed?

“We have sat through coronial inquest after coronial inquest, we have participated in royal commissions and inquiries, we have met state and federal governments on their terms. We demanded a treaty, but we now are being forced to enter discussions around a voice to parliament.

“With progressives talking over the top of us and bigots denying our humanity, our self-determination is being steamrolled.”

Senator Thorpe’s latest criticism of the voice comes as the government this week was urged to focus on the crisis in Alice Springs before looking to progress constitutional recognition.

Labor MP Marion Scrymgour said on Monday that discussion of the voice referendum in her seat of Lingiari, which has the nation's largest Indigenous population, was challenging for people who were frustrated and felt unsafe in their beds.

When asked if Senator Thorpe’s comments reflected the Greens’ position, acting Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi pointed to comments she made last week, when she said the party “supported progress on all elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart – truth, treaty, and voice”.

“The Greens are in productive discussions with the Labor government to ensure that any action they take in parliament does not set us back on the campaign to achieve treaty or undermine First Nations sovereignty,” Ms Faruqi said.

“Now that we have the Labor government’s timetable for legislation, (the) partyroom will meet early next month to discuss Labor’s plan and decide on our formal position on Labor’s voice legislation. We will be including Blak Greens members in this discussion.”