Lidia Thorpe

Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 18 August 1973) is an Australian politician. She is of English and Aboriginal (Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung) descent. 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, and became a key figure in the "progressive No" campaign against the Voice referendum in October 2023. Thorpe served as the Greens' deputy leader in the Senate from June to October 2022.

Thorpe has previously been a member of the Victorian Parliament. On winning the Northcote state by-election on 18 November 2017, she became the first known 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.

Thorpe has received media attention for her support of the Indigenous sovereignty movement and her criticism of the legitimacy of Australian political institutions, which she views as the legacy of colonialism.

Early life and education

Lidia Alma Thorpe was born on 18 August 1973 in Carlton, Victoria, to Roy Illingworth and Marjorie Thorpe. She is of English, Irish, Djab Wurrung, 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 has stated that, at school, she was harassed "as a black kid," and she would retaliate by punching "boys and the girls out," instead of which, now, she says, "I’ve learnt to use my mouth."