Lidia Thorpe Makes Sensational Claim About ‘Scared’ White People in Australia During Vicious Tirade
Max Aitchison, Daily Mail, January 22, 2025
Lidia Thorpe says the outspoken defence of Australia Day by some politicians is a backlash because ‘white people are becoming the minority’ in Australia and are scared of that prospect.
The independent senator, who achieved global notoriety last year when she screamed ‘f*** the colony’ at King Charles, said that ‘black and brown people are rising up’ and that invoked fear among whites.
Senator Thorpe, speaking on a left-wing podcast, was asked about Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s ‘Trumpian tactics’ over ‘Invasion Day’.
Mr Dutton earlier this month said the Coalition, if elected in the upcoming federal poll, would force councils to hold traditional citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, January 26.
‘Dutton is a racist. Dutton is a violent person,’ Senator Thorpe told the Green Left Show on Monday.
‘Dutton used to be a Queensland police officer who caused damage to a lot of blackfellas on the street, wheeling his power around the streets.’
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Dutton is a racist or violent person.
‘It’s what we need to eradicate in this country. We see his mates like Pauline Hanson and Ralph Babet continue to perpetrate this racist regime that hurts people,’ she said.
‘White people are becoming the minority in this country and they are really scared of that,’ Sen Thorpe said.
‘Black and brown people are rising up and they are getting more and more desperate in their messaging.
‘And that’s because they are scared and they want to put that fear into others.’
Prominent No campaigner and former Liberal candidate Warren Mundine branded Senator Thorpe’s comments ‘nonsense’ and called her a ‘waste of space’.
‘This is what makes me laugh about the people on the far left, they call Peter Dutton a racist and the Liberal Party a racist party but look at the candidates across the country,’ Mr Mundine told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We have candidates with Chinese, Indian, Aboriginal heritage… all proud Australians of different races and faiths.’
Mr Mundine pointed to Sam Kayal, a Muslim father-of-two who is the Liberal Party candidate for Werriwa in south west Sydney at the forthcoming federal election, which must be held before May.
The businessman, who was overlooked in pre-selection for the seat of Bradfield despite being endorsed by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, said Senator Thorpe’s comments had no basis in reality.
‘They are just throwaway lines designed to keep her name in the paper – and to some extent it works,’ Mr Mundine said.
Senator Thorpe’s claim that ‘white people are becoming the minority’ has not happened yet according to demographic statistics.
While the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not collect date on race, it asks each respondent to nominate up to two ancestries.
At the 2021 census, 57 per cent of people said their ancestry was European, while 30 per cent said Australian and 17.4 per cent said Asian.
Just over three per cent of people identified as being Indigenous.
Of the 26.6 million people living in Australia in June 2023, an estimated 8.2 million people were born overseas.
Within that figure, those born in England were the largest group at 962,000, while those born in India were second (846,000) and those born in China third (656,000).
Australia has a relatively low birth rate and record high levels of immigration, meaning the demographic balance is changing rapidly.
Mr Mundine asked: ‘If we are such a racist country then why are millions of people trying to move to Australia?’
Despite this, Senator Thorpe – who has a white father and indigenous heritage on her mother’s side – said there was high levels of racism directed toward Aboriginal people.
‘We do live in a racist country, unfortunately. And we saw again that coming out during the (Voice) referendum,’ she said.
‘But what my people face on the streets every day going into shops and using public transport or trying to live their daily life, racism is real and racism is everywhere.’
Senator Thorpe also took aim at the Labor government, branding Anthony Albanese’s administration ‘disappointing’.
‘I thought we could get some wins on the board with a Labor government but we haven’t been able to achieve that at all,’ she said.
‘I’ll keep holding them to account, calling for a treaty, truth-telling and an end to the many injustices my people face.’
She also drew a parallel between the treatment of Indigenous people in Australia with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
‘What’s happening in Palestine is genocide and ecocide, which my people certainly are all too familiar with,’ she said.
‘It’s happening in Palestine in the name of Zionism so we have to stand in solidarity against a genocide.’
The host of the podcast thanked Senator Thorpe for ‘yelling at Charles’ at the end of their discussion.
‘That was one of the highlights of 2024,’ the host gushed.
Daily Mail Australia approached Senator Thorpe for comment.