Lidia Thorpe to Abstain During Indigenous Voice to Parliament Senate Vote

Senator Lidia Thorpe announces she is resigning from the Greens and moving to the cross bench at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 6, 2023. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe will likely abstain from voting on The Voice legislation, indicating she could not vote “No” to support a “white supremacy” campaign.

The senator famously quit the Greens party in February over disagreements in opinion towards the Indigenous Voice to Parliament legislation.

Thorpe has continued to advocate for a Treaty between Australia and Indigenous communities, expressing doubt over whether a “Voice” would help make any progress for Indigenous people.

“The ‘Yes’ vote is to allow for a powerless Voice to go into the Constitution,” she told ABC’s Insider program.

“Yes, we don’t know what this looks like, it could be one person, it’s up to the parliament to decide what The Voice looks like.

“So, I can’t support something that gives us no power.”

But while she has clearly shown her opposition against The Voice, the senator said she would not be joining the “No” camp either—and would never join it.

“I certainly cannot support a ‘No’ campaign that is looking more like a white-supremacy campaign that is causing a lot of harm,” she said.

“So I’m considering to abstain from the up-and-coming vote, given our people ... what they want [is] a Treaty.”

Thorpe called for Parliament to place greater emphasis on discussing the sovereignty of Indigenous people in Australia in a way that would “ultimately bring power to the First Nations people.”

But fellow Independent Senator Jacquie Lambie advised Thorpe to “pick her fights” and avoid distracting from the important issues.

“From one politician to another, there is a lot of awful things going on out there. We need to get a roof over people’s heads, we’ve got all this stuff going on in Indigenous communities there,” she told Sky News Australia.

“This is just a distraction that will not help whatever Lidia Thorpe’s trying to sell.”

‘No’ Campaign Begins Ramping Up

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton recently launched his strongest attack to date against entrenching the Indigenous Voice to Parliament into the Constitution, saying it would take Australia “backwards, not forwards.”

“What’s most curious about this referendum is the government prefers Australians to be incurious. When Australians have raised reasonable and legitimate concerns about the Voice model, the government dismisses them as a scare campaign, as nonsense, as noise and misinformation,” he told Parliament on May 22.

He also warned that there was no “return policy” if The Voice succeeded, and there would be new procedural rights granted “only on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.”

“It will have an Orwellian effect where all Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others,” he said.

According to an AFR/Freshwater Strategy poll, support for changing the constitution in the upcoming referendum has fallen to 48 percent.

In the poll of just over 1,000 people, conducted on May 15 to 17, over half of respondents believe they do not have sufficient information on the proposal.

Additionally, around one in five people are not even aware that a referendum will be held later this year.

The vote certainty of “No” voters was also reportedly higher than that of “Yes” voters, suggesting the “Yes” camp is more likely to change their minds in the meantime.

Racism Claims

Meanwhile, Thorpe has indicated that she may lodge a claim to the Human Rights Commission against her former party, alleging that she experienced racism during her time in the Greens.

Her lawyer told her that she had “enough grounds for a case” and declined to give any further information.

“I don’t want to say any further. But, yes, I’ve experienced racism all my life in every workplace, and the Greens were no different,” Thorpe told ABC.

“It’s the foundation of these institutions that are racist that allows racism to occur. I think we all need to look at ourselves within and eradicate that and make our workplaces safer.”

It comes after Thorpe directly questioned her former colleague, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, while she was grilling senior directors of the ABC for the broadcaster’s handling of Stan Grant’s exit from the Q+A program during senate estimates.

“Why didn’t you stand up for racism in the party against me?” Thorpe said.

Following a tense exchange, Hanson-Young denied all allegations.

“I'd just like to put on the record that I reject any accusation made by Senator Thorpe,” she said.

Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this report.