Lidia Thorpe Kitchen Cabinet: Senator’s surprising reaction to her estranged father after he called her a ‘racist’ – as she reveals disgusting slur that saw her ‘punch a guy out’

An emotional Lidia Thorpe has spoken out about her complex feelings towards her white father who called her a ‘very racist person’ in a public spat earlier this year.

The controversial senator said she hasn’t spoken to her dad, Roy Illingsworth, since he made that comment in an interview with Sky News in April, but she said ‘I love my dad. I love him with all my heart.’

Ms Thorpe also told the ABC’s Annabel Crabb on the Kitchen Cabinet that she felt ‘a bit sad for him’ when he gave that interview. 

‘He was a good dad in my early years. Probably not a good husband but he was a good dad to me,’ she said. 

The former Greens politician, who is now an independent, also revealed the vile schoolyard slur that caused her to ‘punch out’ a fellow pupil in high school.

One day a boy called her an ‘Aboriginal Bum Cleaner’, which she said was a common insult at the time, which was often shortened to ‘ABC’. 

An emotional Lidia Thorpe (left) has spoken out about her complex feelings for her father Roy Illingsworth (right) after he called her a ‘very racist person’ last April

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‘So I punched this guy out … for calling me an ABC,’ she said. ‘And he punched me straight back out too.

‘So we walked home with black eyes that day.’

Ms Thorpe and her cousin were the only Aboriginal children at her school in Melbourne, where she said ‘there a lot of racism from the other kids and teachers’.

‘We were forced to participate in the bicentennial celebration (in 1988, marking 200 years since the white settlement of Australia).

‘Which was against our religion if you like, the invasion of this country. But I was very proud to be black and I never shied away from questioning people’s teachings of this country.

‘And that usually ended up in conflict, particularly with teachers,’ she said. 

The fiery senator admitted that she gets on better with right wing politicians than those on the left. 

‘It’s really weird,’ she said, saying she thinks it’s because she knows where those on the right of politics stand.

‘It’s like the netball court, (I get) white line fever once I’m in that Senate, I’m there for business … And I’ve got my agenda, which is black justice in this country.

‘And then out of the court, I’ll be your friend.’

She doesn’t just get on with right wingers such as One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, who she calls ‘a real gentleman’, her father encouraged her to join Pauline Hanson’s party.

‘(My dad) moved to Queensland and the further north he went, he started to change, and he became a One Nation supporter.

‘And when I became a Greens politician, he said, oh, well, why go there? He said, I should join One Nation.

‘I just said, OK, Dad, maybe we shouldn’t talk about politics.’

Lidia Thorpe (pictured) said One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is ‘a real gentleman’

Lidia Thorpe (left) appeared on ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet with Annabelle Crabb (right)

Ms Thorpe (pictured) said her father encouraged her to join One Nation and she was also asked to run for the Liberal Party in Victoria

Ms Thorpe also revealed that she enjoys having a ‘good chat’ with former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and that he tried to get her to run for the Liberal Party. 

She politely declined, telling him ‘You know what my family would do to me if I ran for you guys, you got no hope.

‘Thanks for thinking of me though. I really appreciate it.’

Though she is known for never backing down from a fight, Ms Thorpe said she regrets shouting ‘at least I kept my legs shut’ at Liberal senator Hollie Hughes in December 2021.

Ms Hughes said it was a ‘vile’ reference to her autistic son, Fred.

In an interview with Sky News at the time, an emotional Ms Hughes said the comment implied that if she kept her legs shut she would not have an autistic child.

She said she found the comments ‘beyond disgusting, beyond vile’.

But almost two years on from the comments that shocked the nation, Ms Thorpe claimed it was all a misunderstanding. 

‘It was the wrong thing to say. And I admit that and I accept that,’ she said.

‘Earlier in the day, the senator was sitting in a way that I could see her knickers and I said to my colleague next to me, should we go up and tell Holly that we can see her knickers?’

Ms Thorpe (pictured) said she regrets shouting ‘at least I kept my legs shut’ at Liberal senator Hollie Hughes in December 2021

Senator Hughes (pictured) said she found the comments ‘beyond disgusting, beyond vile’

When she later shouted out to Ms Hughes about keeping her legs shut, it was a reference to her underwear, not her son, Ms Thorpe claimed. 

‘And I was just beside myself and she was horrified, which is understandable.’

She said she later apologised to Ms Hughes, but the fact that she’d made the comment in the first place made her feel ‘unwell. 

‘I felt so bad for what come out of my mouth.’