“He threw me under the bus”: Lidia Thorpe responds to Dad’s interview
<p>Senator Lidia Thorpe has accused her father of throwing her “under the bus” following his <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/tv/lidia-thorpe-s-dad-calls-her-racist-in-extraordinary-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TV interview</a>, where he claimed she was “very racist against white people”.</p>
<p>Speaking to activist Tom Tanuki in an interview on Youtube, Ms Thorpe covered many of her recent controversies.</p>
<p>“When I pay attention to the things you say, I am never left in any doubt as to exactly what your politics are. I always get an extremely firm sense of your perspective,” Mr Tanuki told the senator, who left the Greens in February 2023 following disagreements on the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.</p>
<p>“Your actions, even protest actions, marry up with your words. More than most politicians, let’s face it. You are ostensibly bulls*** free, in that you mean what you say and you will take actions to show that you mean it.”</p>
<p>“And that’s always got me into trouble,” Ms Thorpe explained.</p>
<p>“Because I’m a straight shooter, straight talker, I’ve got nothing to hide, and people struggle with that. And they want me to conform to what? What do you want me to be like? Do you want me to be like Pauline Hanson, do you want me to be like Jacinta Price? You know, what’s a good model politician that you want me to be like?</p>
<p>“Obviously being myself is hard for people to understand. I’m a good person. I have a beautiful relationship, I have beautiful children. And my dad’s been texting me all morning, telling me he loves me, even though he threw me under the bus on Andrew Bolt.</p>
<p>“So, you know, we all have our own lives and our own complications, but I’m a loving person, and I’m genuinely wanting to bring this country together. Working class conservatives and the left, on a journey towards peace and healing.”</p>
<p>Roy Illingworth, Ms Thorpe’s father, took aim at her when speaking to <em>Sky News Australia</em> host Andrew Bolt, explaining he was “disappointed” by her abandoning her English and Irish heritage.</p>
<p>“The way I see it, the way she is and the way she's changed over the years, she's a very racist person against white people," he said.</p>
<p>“She doesn’t acknowledge any of her white side. I’m a bit disappointed in the way she’s been carrying on lately.</p>
<p>“Because after all, she does have English background as well as Irish, the convict side.</p>
<p>“She’s never, ever mentioned me in her speeches, never mentioned anything about a white father, which disappointed me a little bit.”</p>
<p>Mr Illingowrth revealed he had fallen out with his daughter and had no contact with her children, although she did still call him for his birthday and Father’s Day.</p>
<p>“She’s said a lot of bad and evil things to me over the years,” he said.</p>
<p>“We still love each other and, at the end of the day, she’s still my daughter.”</p>
<p>He claimed Ms Thorpe became politicised in her late teens and “turned racist”, though he did acknowledge her as a “strong woman”.</p>
<p>Ms Thorpe has been at the front of several controversies, with the most recent being an intense altercation with a group of men outside a Melbourne strip club at 3am.</p>
<p>The footage that emerged from the incident captured Ms Thorpe taunting the group of men, one of whom called her a racist dog, and saying another had a “small penis”.’</p>
<p>She claimed she did not instigate the exchange and was just responding to harassment.</p>
<p>Ms Thorpe gave further insight into the altercation with Mr Tanuki.</p>
<p>“When I said that person had a little d**k, it was for the reason that you waited for us to walk out of the door and then, you had all your mates around you, and then you had a go at me,” she said.</p>
<p>“I mean, don’t call yourself a man or a bigshot standing outside the door if you can basically wait and plan to have a go at a black senator who was spending money in the club, but also having some really beautiful conversations and yarns.</p>
<p>“What has been portrayed is blatantly wrong, and it’s also exemplary of how this country deals with people like me, whether I’m a senator or not. I’m a black woman, and look at how black women are treated in this country.”</p>
<p>Mr Tanuki later asked her why she thought the “Australian political media establishment” was “so concerned with policing your rudeness?”</p>
<p>“I think different elements of the political spectrum have different reasons,” she responded.</p>
<p>“If you look at the right-wing media, they’re scared. They’re becoming the minority, and they’ve not had to deal with truth in the way that’s being put in their face every day.</p>
<p>“In terms of the progressives, they’ve all got their hands on their heart and they’re feeling really good about the voice, it appeases their white guilt, makes them feel like they’ve done something for us.</p>
<p>“Even though they won’t pay the rent, or force the government to stop deaths in custody, or stop child removal, or give us our rights.”</p>
<p><em>Image credit: Getty</em></p>
