Lidia Thorpe
Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 18 August 1973) is an Australian politician, businesswoman and activist. She is currently a senator for Victoria, representing the Australian Greens, and is also the first Aboriginal Australian senator from Victoria. Thorpe has also previously been a member of the Victorian Parliament. In winning the Northcote state by-election on 18 November 2017 she became the first Aboriginal woman elected to the state's parliament. She served as the member for the division of Northcote in the Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2018. Early career. Thorpe was the chair of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee  in 2014-2017 Thorpe has also worked as the Aboriginal employment adviser for the Municipal Association of Victoria, was president of the Lakes Entrance Basketball Association for three years, school council member of the Nowa Nowa Primary School, a steering committee member for Indigenous Administrators, a member of Community of Practice, a member of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria), and a project manager with the East Gippsland Shire Council, where she addressed disadvantage in Lakes Entrance through the Advancing Country Towns Project. In 2013, Thorpe was declared bankrupt, with over $700,000 in debts, including monies owed to  Indigenous Business Australia, and $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". Thorpe's grandmother, Alma Thorpe, was one of the founders of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. Political career. Victorian Legislative Assembly. Thorpe won the seat of Northcote at the 2017 by-election after receiving 45.22% of the primary vote, giving her a winning distribution of 50.93%, 11% more than the Labor candidate. Thorpe was  sworn in as a member of parliament on 28 November 2017 and she 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 Thorpe organised a historic gathering of Aboriginal Elders in 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. She told ABC Radio Melbourne that "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 scandals had also contributed to her defeat. Senate. 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 was 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. In a speech to Parliament in May 2021, Thorpe alluded that the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory was a white male, when the Attorney-General, Selena Uibo, was an Indigenous woman. In December 2021, Lidia Thorpe was accused of telling Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes “at least I keep my legs shut” during a Parliamentary session. The Senate had been debating the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and Hughes alleged that Thorpe made the comment in reference to her autistic son. Colleagues of Hughes said that she was left in tears. Thorpe apologised unreservedly on  the same day and denied any reference to Hughes's son. Activism. Thorpe is a leader of the Pay the Rent campaign, which calls on non-Aboriginal Australians to voluntarily pay reparations on an individual basis through an organisation of the same name. She is the facilitator of the organisation's emerging Sovereign Body component, which is "based on the notion of community-control and Sovereignty and will have complete authority over how the monies are spent". Thorpe has been critical of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, believing there should be a treaty before an Indigenous voice to government . Thorpe led a walk-out of the Uluru convention, believing that it was "hijacked by Aboriginal corporations and establishment appointments and did not reflect the aspirations of ordinary Indigenous people". On 26 January 2019, an inaugural dawn service organised by Thorpe was held at the Kings Domain Resting Place as a day of mourning and reflection on the colonisation of Australia with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in attendance for the ceremony. This has become an annual event in Melbourne. Personal life. Thorpe has three children and first became a mother at the age of 17. She also has two  granddaughters. Thorpe shares care of her youngest child with her ex-husband, who she said has worked to "turn his life around and to be a good dad to our daughter'.