As a First Nations politician, Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe sits apart - she does not support a Voice to Parliament as the top priority of the reform agenda.
As far as Thorpe has always been concerned, Treaty must come first.
It's a position she says is supported by one of her chief political advisors, prominent Victorian activist and Elder, and her grandmother, Alma Thorpe.
"I had Nan on the phone saying 'If we go into the constitution, we're gone. We're dead. We won't be Aboriginal no more, we'll just be Indigenous Australians. You can't let it happen.'"
The passionate Djab Wurrung Gunnai-Gunditjmara woman says she holds dear the key principles of family, culture, love of Country and the fight to protect it.
“My Nan is the matriarch, and it’s Nan who can still pull me into line. I'll forever be answerable to my Nan first and foremost.”
This was evident back in 2017 when Thorpe walked out of the Uluru Convention, protesting in solidarity with a small group of grassroots Elders who believe in the political primacy of Treaty.
Thorpe credits her Nan's influence with the decision.
The walkout, although significant on the day, didn’t stop the convention from going ahead or the creation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. But neither has talk of Treaty gone away.
Lidia Thorpe with family matriarch Alma Thorpe (Source: Lidia Thorpe Facebook)
"We’re one of only a couple of countries around the world that doesn't have a Treaty with its first peoples. Whether you like it or not, ships came here, they murdered our people. That's an act of war.
"And so a Treaty is an end to the war.
“When did our old people march down the street saying, ‘Let's go into the Aussie Constitution.’ I've never heard a rally say that, but I've heard them say 'Treaty.'”
Djab Wurrung Country
Thorpe's Country is a place of pride for her. Djab Wurrung is tattooed on her arm. The sacred 800-year-old Djab Wurrung birthing trees empower and inspire her.
The senator attempted to show the Living Black program her Country during filming.
But private security contractors had fenced off the spiritual place. The security guards refused Thorpe entry, as the sacred trees were to be demolished as part of a highway upgrade.
Lidia inside one of the birthing Djab Wurrung trees (Source: Supplied)
“Are you telling me that I’m banned from my own country?” rebuked Thorpe. "I’m a proud Djab Wurrung woman, and this is my land!”
Still, the fences remained closed and the Senator, aware she was being filmed by security made a reluctant retreat.
We moved to a site across the highway.
“To see them fenced off like that and to be continually told ‘its private property get off our land’ is very hurtful. To have two men in suits telling me ‘you can't come near here; it’s devastating.”
Ever the staunch fighter, Thorpe is adamant there is still hope to save the trees.
“The fight, while they think it's over; it's not. We'll continue to fight. My Mum was [involved] in the last court case, but we’ll be back. We won’t let them destroy these trees without hearing from us.”
Lidia Thorpe at the site of the sacred Djab Wurrung trees (Source: Supplied)
Activism at home
Activism has always been a part of Thorpe’s life.
“I've been raised by very strong, powerful matriarchs, who've taught me my culture, and they've maintained the resistance,” says Thorpe.
She says they're lessons for life that have never left her.
From her youngest days growing up in public housing in Fitzroy and Collingwood, Thorpe saw it as a place where community cared for each other.
“Everyone looked out for one another and everyone shared stuff when someone was struggling. I had all my friends in the one place. It was great. I loved it.”
Thorpe’s family has been staunch grassroots community members involved in fighting for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Lidia Thorpe as a child with her nan Alma Thorpe (Source: Supplied)
“This was a place of Black activism in this country, right here in Fitzroy, it's where it all began. Even Muhammad Ali was here as part of the Black Panthers movement.”
“I sat on his knee, I was pretty scared, I remember that much. He even signed my Nan’s car!"
Lidia Thorpe as a child (Source: Supplied)
The political move
Community activism always seemed a likely career path, but as she got older politics slowly started to call her. It would take Thorpe until 2017 to take the plunge when the Victorian seat of Northcote became available in a by-election.
Though she was initially approached by Labor to run, Thorpe eventually sided with the Greens.
"'If you run you're not gonna win,'" Thorpe says she was told at the time.
"'Just have a practice run; you won't win.'”
In an upset victory, Thorpe took the seat to become Victoria’s first Aboriginal woman in parliament.
“It was huge, even The Greens were like, 'Whoa, we weren't expecting this result. Sorry. Now you're a politician.'"
Lidia Thorpe with campaign material for whilst running for the seat of Northcote in 2017 (Source: Supplied)
Finding the light
Almost as soon as Thorpe entered the race for Northcote in 2017, the grubbiness of politics reared its ugly head as attack ads came after her, ultimately exposing a traumatic period of her life.
Bankruptcy and domestic violence would be aired in a smear campaign against her.
“When it all came out, I had to tell people why I was bankrupt. It was because of domestic violence.”
“I can tell you now, it took a long time for me to speak about it, I was shame. I didn't want my mob knowing what was going on at home.”
The silver lining of the revelation, Thorpe says, was the subsequent licence to better voice support for women and domestic violence.
Thorpe says one of the keys for Indigenous women is to understand that they don’t need to settle for bad behaviour from their partners.
“What I say to our women out there is, we have to know what a healthy relationship looks like. When you know what that looks like, then you will know what you're dealing with.”
Senator Lidia Thorpe protesting for womens rights outside Federal Parliament in 2021 (Source: NITV)
A bigger stage
After little more than a year in office, Thorpe would be voted out in the general election of 2018.
She went back to work in the public sector and continued with her environmental activism, joining the campaign to save the Djab Wurrung trees from demolition.
However, the Greens came calling again. When Senator Richard Di Natale resigned in 2020 as a federal senator, the party again canvassed her to run, this time for the national stage.
Thorpe says, ultimately, she relied on the opinion of another intimate advisor, her daughter.
“She’s very politically smart.”
“She said, 'You are [running for preselection]... aren’t you? You are!'
“And that was it. I said ‘I’ll do it’.”
Thorpe won preselection for The Greens and was sworn into office in October 2020, becoming the first Aboriginal woman to represent Victoria in the Senate and the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian from the Greens.
Lidia Thorpe with her daughter attending climate change protests in 2019 (Source: Lidia Thorpe Twitter)
'Too quick to jump'
Life as a senator soon proved to be a steep learning curve for Senator Thorpe, making headlines along the way, often for the wrong reasons.
In 2021 she made numerous gaffes that damaged her reputation and that of her party.
The worst such transgression resulted in Thorpe publicly apologising to LNP Senator Hollie Hughes. In the course of a heated debate in the senate chamber, Thorpe yelled at Hughes, “At least I keep my legs shut".
Thorpe admits she isn’t perfect and is often “too quick to jump” on topics, conceding she isn’t ignorant of the damage she has caused.
"I wear my heart on my sleeve. It's part of my problem," she said.
"Now that I've been there for 12 months, I’m calming down.”
Lidia Thorpe speaking with Journalist Karla Grant about her learnings after a year being in the Senate. (Source: Living Black)
Election on the horizon
Calming down may well be one thing, but it’s clear some feathers within the Greens party have been ruffled. Thorpe is much more careful with her commentary, especially now that she is up for re-election.
When asked if her missteps could hurt her election chances Thorpe conceded it is a possibility.
“I have said the wrong things sometimes that have got me into trouble, and that's been my learning," she said.
"I have had the time now since last parliament to reflect on that. I just have to work on how I deliver in a way that brings people in rather than moves people out.
“But if people really want to destroy me and, and bring me down, which I know has already started, I hope that doesn't affect the result at the end of the day.
"Because I do have a lot to contribute. I’m not just fighting for our people here, I’m fighting for all people, and I want to continue to do that.”
The full conversation can be viewed on Living Black, Monday 8.30pm on NITV or later on SBS OnDemand.
Karla Grant with Senator Lidia Thorpe while filming Living Black (Source: Living Black)
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