Lidia Thorpe

Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 1973) is an Australian independent politician.

Lidia Alma Thorpe was born in 1973 in Carlton, Victoria, to Roy Illingworth and Marjorie Thorpe.

She is of English, Irish, DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara descent.

Thorpe grew up in Housing Commission flats in Collingwood and went to Gold Street Primary School in Clifton Hill.

She studied Year 7 at Fitzroy High School, Year 8 at Collingwood High, returned to Fitzroy High for Year 9, but left soon afterwards, at the age of 14.

She plays Australian rules football and netball.

Her first job was working with her uncle Robbie Thorpe at the Koori Information Centre at 120 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, which at that time was "a hub of Black political activity".

She says that from that day onwards, she has worked continuously, apart from six-month breaks after the births of each of her children.

She holds a Diploma of Community Development from Swinburne University of Technology, a graduate certificate in public sector management and a Certificate IV Indigenous Leadership.

She became a single mother at the age of 17.

Thorpe has worked as the Aboriginal employment adviser for the Municipal Association of Victoria and was president of the Lakes Entrance Basketball Association for three years.

She has also been a member of the school council of the Nowa Nowa Primary School, a steering committee for Indigenous administrators and the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria).

She worked as a project manager with the East Gippsland Shire Council, Indigenous manager at Centrelink and manager at Lake Tyers Aboriginal Training Centre.

In 2013, Thorpe was declared bankrupt with over A$700,000 in debts, including monies owed to Indigenous Business Australia and A$55,000 owed to the Australian Taxation Office.

She said that her bankruptcy resulted from domestic violence, stating "like many survivors of family violence, I ended up losing everything in a bid to protect myself and my family from an impossible situation".

Her ex-husband, who was an alcoholic, confirmed her account of the marriage breakdown.

Thorpe was the co-chair of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee from 2014 to 2017.

She was discharged from bankruptcy in 2016.

On winning the Northcote state by-election on 18 November 2017 she became the first known Aboriginal woman elected to the state's parliament and served as the member for the division of Northcote in the Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2018.

Thorpe has received media attention for her criticism of the legitimacy of Australian political institutions, which she views as stemming from colonialism.

Thorpe won the seat of Northcote at the 2017 by-election on 18 November 2017 after receiving 45.22% of the primary vote, which became 50.93% after the distribution of preferences.

She was sworn in as a member of parliament on 28 November 2017 and delivered her first speech to the assembly the following day.

Thorpe was the Australian Greens Victoria portfolio holder for Aboriginal Justice, Consumer Affairs, Skills and Training, Sport and Mental Health.

In May 2018, she organised a historic gathering of Aboriginal Elders at the Parliament of Victoria to discuss the state's treaty processes.

The meeting was organised as part of Thorpe's campaign to implement clan-based treaties, which would recognise the approximately 100 Aboriginal clans in Victoria.

At the time, Thorpe said: "Our sovereignty and each of our language groups and our Clans must be clearly recognised in the government's treaty advancement legislation."

The delegation of clan elders unanimously agreed to form an elders council.

Thorpe supported the Victorian Government's 2018 treaty bill, but stated that she would continue to push for clan sovereignty to be recognised as the treaty process advances.

Thorpe lost her seat to Labor candidate Kat Theophanous at the 2018 Victorian state election, with her term finishing on 19 December 2018.

She told ABC Radio Melbourne: "We need to have a good look at ourselves and have a review of what this election has done to our party, losing quite a considerable amount of Greens members."

She said Labor ran a "dirty campaign" against her but conceded that negative coverage due to internal party scandals had also contributed to her defeat.

She has been a senator for Victoria since 2020 and is the first Aboriginal senator from that state.

She was a member of the Australian Greens until February 2023 when she quit the party over disagreements concerning the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

She had also served as the Greens' deputy leader in the Senate from June to October 2022.

Thorpe has previously been a member of the Victorian Parliament.

In June 2020, Thorpe was preselected by Victorian Greens members to fill the federal Senate vacancy caused by former leader Richard Di Natale's resignation.

She was appointed to the vacancy at a joint sitting of the Victorian Parliament on 4 September and sworn in on 6 October 2020.

She is the first Aboriginal woman to represent Victoria in the Senate and is the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian from the Greens.

Following the May 2022 federal election, at which she was re-elected, Thorpe was elected by the Greens party room as the party's deputy leader in the Senate.

On 20 October 2022, Thorpe resigned from her position as Greens' deputy leader in the Senate, shortly after ABC News revealed that in 2021 she had dated the ex-president of the Rebels outlaw bikie gang, Dean Martin.