Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe QUITS Greens to become leader of an Aboriginal sovereignty movement

Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe has quit the Greens to become the leader of the black sovereignty movement, she revealed on Monday afternoon. 

Wearing Sovereignty Never Ceded earrings, Senator Thorpe confirmed her exit after a Greens partyroom meeting on the first parliamentary sitting day.

‘Now I will be able to speak freely on all issues from a sovereign perspective, without being constrained by portfolios and agreed party positions,’ she said.

‘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.

‘It has become clear to me that I can’t do that from within the Greens.’  

Senator Lidia Thorpe confirmed her exit after a Greens partyroom meeting on the first parliamentary sitting day

Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe has quit the Greens to become the leader of the black sovereignty movement, she announced on Monday afternoon

Greens leader Adam Bandt has indicated the party would support the Voice but Senator Thorpe has been a vocal critic of the proposal.

Last month she announced she would not support the Voice unless there was a guarantee that Indigenous sovereignty would not be ceded. 

On Australia Day, she addressed a rally clutching a war stick and demanded a government treaty with Indigenous people before the Voice. 

‘Greens MPs, members and supporters have told me they want to support the Voice,’ she added. 

‘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.’

But she insisted: ‘I am not announcing my position on the Voice today.

‘I want to continue my negotiations with the government. First Nations sovereignty is crucial but so is saving lives today.’

Wearing Sovereignty Never Ceded earrings, Senator Thorpe revealed she would now sit on the crossbenches as an independent but still support the Greens on climate issues

The split comes after senator Thorpe last week dodged a two-day retreat with other members of the Greens in Mount Macedon, Victoria, to determine the party’s agenda for the year ahead.

But she said she was grateful to leader Adam Bandt for his support.

She added: ‘I will continue to vote with the Greens on climate. 

‘My focus now is to grow and amplify the black sovereign movement in this country, something we’ve never had since this place was established. 

‘There is a black sovereign movement out there that no one wants to listen to. So I’ll be their voice. 

‘I’ve spent my entire life fighting for justice, to defend our sovereignty, to save black lives. This is my goal.’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, constitutional experts and the expert working group have said the Voice would have no impact on First Nations sovereignty.

Senator Thorpe replaced former Greens leader Richard Di Natale when he retired in 2020.

She has been the party’s Indigenous affairs spokesperson and was deputy leader of the Greens in the Senate last year.

Senator Lidia Thorpe replaced former Greens leader Richard Di Natale when he retired in 2020

‘My strength and convictions come from a lifetime of activism from my ancestors and from my matriarchs, who continue to say to me every day, “keep infiltrating”,’ she said on Monday. 

‘”Keep your integrity and keep the fire burning. But more importantly, keep our fight alive.”

‘To my mob I say this, your strength is my strength. Your fight is my fight. Your struggle is my struggle. 

‘And I’m ready for what comes next in the fight for a future where our kids can be with their families and where our people are not killed in custody. 

‘Where the chains that this system wraps around our people are lifted.’

Greens leader Adam Bandt said he regretted senator Thorpe’s decision to quit and revealed he had tried to persuade her to stay.

He offered to allow her to remain as First Nations spokesman and he would take over responsibilities for the party’s position on the Voice to Parliament, but she refused.

‘I made it clear to the senator that she still had a place in the Greens,’ he said.

‘She’s obviously decided to adopt a different course. I wish she had made a different decision. But I understand the reasons that she’s given for that.’

Senator Thorpe faced a parliamentary review after she was romantically linked to ex-Rebels bikie boss Dean Martin.

Greens leader Adam Bandt and senator Mehreen Faruqi (pictured) said they regretted senator Thorpe’s decision to quit and revealed Mr Bandt had tried to persuade her to stay

She was alleged to have been dating the former bikie club president while serving on the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee’s review of outlaw gangs and organised crime.

Mr Bandt refused to be drawn on whether the senator had served with ‘propriety’ while a Greens Party member. 

‘She has my respect and she’s made an enormous contribution,’ he said.

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi also paid tribute to her former colleague, vowing to continue their fight against ‘white supremacy’.

‘I have deep admiration for her unwavering commitment for black justice,’ she said on Monday. 

‘Lidia and I have been working together as strong allies against white supremacy and racism in all its forms.

‘I know that we will continue to work together, this work of decolonisation, as well as working for climate justice, and for many other vital progressive causes.’ 

Senator Thorpe’s exit reduces Greens numbers from 12 to 11 in the senate, and diminishes their bargaining power with Labor who will require more support from independents on the crossbenches to pass legislation.

A wholesale rewrite of Australia’s Constitution, a $12.50 weekly ‘rent’ fee for home-owners and 10 Aboriginal-only seats in Parliament are at the centre of Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe’s ‘treaty’ agenda for Australia. 

The Greens senator and Indigenous rights campaigner brandished a ‘battle stick’ during a fiery speech at an Invasion Day protest march in Melbourne on Austraia Day where she claimed Australian governments are waging a ‘war’ on Indigenous communities.  

‘This is a war. They are still killing us. They are still killing our babies,’ Ms Thorpe said. ‘What do we have to celebrate in our country?’

The firebrand politician – who was outed as having a secret relationship with a former senior Rebels bikie Dean Martin late last year – has an answer for how her alleged ‘war’ could end.

Ms Thorpe is pushing for First Nations people to have ‘real power’, which she says can be achieved through a treaty and then an Aboriginal-led Republic – as well as the removal of all ‘racist’ aspects of the Constitution.

The senator has also called for better representation of Indigenous people in Parliament with 10 independent seats going towards First Nations people to help maintain their ‘sovereignty’. 

A rewrite of Australia’s Constitution, an Aboriginal-led Republic and ‘real power’ are just some of the changes Lidia Thorpe is pushing for after declaring there was a ‘war’ against Indigenous Australians 

Lidia Thorpe’s war manifesto  

Australian property owners paying ‘rent’ tax to Indigenous groups:

Based on their claim to land, the ‘Pay the rent’ model would see Aussie home-owners pay a weekly tax to First Nations people.

One per cent of weekly wages is the level suggested by Robbie Thorpe, a veteran Aboriginal rights activist from Melbourne who ran a similar scheme in Fitzroy in the 1990s.

The scheme could then be extended further to all users of the land – people having weddings or holding concerts would also be encouraged to hand over money.

Mr Thorpe told media the rent scheme is ‘a rational, reasonable, responsible means of reconciling 200 years of unchecked genocide, as far as I’m concerned’.

The ‘Pay the Rent’ tax could apply to Indigenous people too. Anyone who owns property would pay because it would operate as a form of land tax.

Rewrite of the Australian Constitution:

Lidia Thorpe believes the Australian Constitution should be rewritten, or updated to remove all of the ‘racist’ aspects.

She said given it was written in 1901, many aspects of life in Australia had changed.

‘Let’s update the Constitution to fit with this country today, because when it was written, when it was established in 1901, is very different to where it is in 2022,’ she told Junkee.

Treaty and an Aboriginal-led Republic:

Ms Thorpe has publicly criticised the call for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying Indigenous people deserve to be more than an ‘advisory body’.

She said First Nations people deserved to have ‘real power’, which could be achieved through a treaty.

The treaty would allow First Nations people to maintain their sovereignty 

The senator said a Republic would allow First Nations people to ‘take back what was ours in the first place and share it in a way that we know how best to do’.

‘I mean our whole culture is based on sharing and caring. So a Blak Republic would ensure that everybody in this country is looked after,’ she told the publication.

‘Everybody in this country understands the true history of this country, understands or has some basic knowledge around how to look after the land that you are on and how we’ve looked after it.’

10 black seats in Parliament:

Ms Thorpe said First Nations people needed to have ‘real power’ and representation in Parliament.

‘From the federal parliament – the poisoned chalice that it is – right through the everyday streets that we walk down, we have to rid racism and heal this country, bring everyone together through a sovereign treaty,’ she said at Thursday’s Invasion Day rally.

‘They want to put the colonial constitution on top of the oldest constitution on the planet … we are sovereign and this is our land. And we deserve better than an advisory body.

‘We have an opportunity to have a treaty … that could put 10 independent Blak seats in the parliament today. We want real power and we won’t settle for anything less.’

One campaign she is behind is a ‘Pay the Rent’ scheme that urges Australian property owners to pay a weekly ‘rent’ tax to Indigenous groups based on their ancestral claim to the land.  

Under the scheme, homeowners would voluntarily pay a percentage of their income to a body led by Aboriginal elders and administered without any government oversight or intervention.

One per cent of weekly wages is the level suggested by Robbie Thorpe, a veteran Aboriginal rights activist from Melbourne who ran a similar scheme in Fitzroy in the 1990s.

Government statistics from last August that say the median Australian employee’s earnings were $1,250 per week.

So spread evenly, all Australian wage earners could pay a median ‘rent’ of $12.50 a week, adding up to $650 a year.

The ‘Pay the Rent’ tax could apply to Indigenous people too. Anyone who owns property would pay because it would operate as a form of land tax.

Ms Thorpe and feminist author Clementine Ford have publicly supported the proposal.

 Lidia Thorpe brandished a ‘battle stick’ as she addressed a crowd on the steps of the Victorian Parliament on Thursday in an Invasion Day protest

Ms Thorpe is supporting a ‘Pay the Rent’ campaign that urges Australian property owners to pay a weekly ‘rent’ tax to Indigenous groups based on their ancestral claim to the land

‘Pay the Rent’ was developed as a policy by the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation (NAIHO). Pictured above, a NAIHO document

‘Pay the rent from grassroots for grassroots. No strings attached to government agenda. It assists sovereign grassroots fight the many campaigns and struggles we face everyday,’ Ms Thorpe said.

Also in the senator’s agenda is a complete rewrite of the Australian Constitution.

‘Let’s rewrite the Constitution, or let’s take out everything that is racist in the Constitution,’ she told Junkee in December.

‘Let’s update the Constitution to fit with this country today, because when it was written, when it was established in 1901, is very different to where it is in 2022.’

Her call for a change to the Constitution stems from her desire for Indigenous Australians to have ‘real power.’

Ms Thorpe has publicly criticised the call for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying Indigenous people deserve to be more than an ‘advisory body’

Ms Thorpe has publicly criticised the call for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying Indigenous people deserve to be more than an ‘advisory body’.

Instead she is leading the push for a treaty that could see 10 seats in Parliament go to First Nations people, and lead to an Aboriginal-led ‘Blak Republic’.

‘From the federal parliament – the poisoned chalice that it is – right through the everyday streets that we walk down, we have to rid racism and heal this country, bring everyone together through a sovereign treaty,’ she said at Thursday’s rally.

‘They want to put the colonial constitution on top of the oldest constitution on the planet … we are sovereign and this is our land. And we deserve better than an advisory body.

‘We have an opportunity to have a treaty … that could put 10 independent Blak seats in the parliament today. We want real power and we won’t settle for anything less.’

When speaking to Junkee, Ms Thorpe said the Federal government was ‘not about to give us real power’.

‘So a treaty will negotiate real power through shared sovereignty and going to the republic, we’ll have a new constitution or an updated constitution that actually has equal power with the others who say that they are sovereign, and that’s the parliament here,’ she said.

The senator said a Republic would allow First Nations people to ‘take back what was ours in the first place and share it in a way that we know how best to do’.

‘I mean our whole culture is based on sharing and caring. So a Blak Republic would ensure that everybody in this country is looked after,’ she told the publication.

‘Everybody in this country understands the true history of this country, understands or has some basic knowledge around how to look after the land that you are on and how we’ve looked after it.’

With growing controversy surrounding celebrating January 26, Ms Thorpe said another date should instead be put forward to honour Australia.

She is hoping that date could be known as the Treaty Republic Day.

WHY SOME ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS WANT YOU TO ‘PAY THE RENT’ 

Source: paytherent.net.au 

Australia is founded on land that was stolen from Indigenous people. The wealth that has been generated by that theft is disproportionately distributed. All people who live here today, or who have lived here in the past, have not benefited equally from the continuing dispossession of Indigenous people. Indeed, many are deliberately and profoundly marginalised from power and the spoils of colonialism. However, some uncomfortable facts remain:

Every day, people consume food grown on Indigenous land or harvested from Indigenous seas; they drink water that flows across or under Indigenous land.Every day, people who are not Indigenous to this land take shelter in homes built upon it; they socialise, gather, and make family and community here.Every day, business is conducted on this land for the benefit of non-Indigenous people.Every day, land belonging to Indigenous people is traded for profit.

This land was never empty; the sovereignty of First Nations people was never ceded. Despite centuries of attempted genocide that continues to this day, Indigenous people have managed to hold onto and nurture culture and connections with country. At the same time, Indigenous health and wellbeing have been devastated; Aboriginal people are significantly more likely to be incarcerated, over-policed, to die in custody, for children to be separated from their family, and are more likely to die prematurely from preventable illnesses or to die by suicide. While governments and individuals have said Sorry to the Stolen Generations, they have taken no meaningful action towards making right, nor towards preventing further harm.

Paying the Rent is a step towards acknowledging these facts. It is part of a process that all non-Indigenous people – individually and collectively – need to enter into if we are to move towards justice, truth, equality and liberation for First Nations people.