Inside Senator Lidia Thorpe’s new ‘Blak sovereignty’ agenda

Lydia Thorpe wants Australians to pay ‘rent’ to indigenous people, rewrite the constitution and make a treaty with ‘colonial’ settlers, as she resigns as a member of the Greens in a bid to become head of the ‘ black sovereignty’. movement.

Senator Thorpe revealed on Monday that she would resign as a member of the left-wing party to become an independent, following a split with her colleagues over her stance on the Prime Minister’s proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Wearing ‘sovereignty never ceded’ earrings, Senator Thorpe said: ‘I will now be able to speak freely on all issues from a sovereign perspective, not constrained by portfolios and agreed party positions.’

“This country has a strong grassroots black sovereign movement filled with committed, die-hard warriors. And I want to fully represent that movement in this Parliament.

“It has become clear to me that I cannot do that from within the Greens.”

At the center of their movement is a push for a treaty and, subsequently, an Aboriginal-led Republic.

Such a republic would guarantee that First Nations people would have “real power” and maintain their sovereignty over the land.

It would allow indigenous peoples to ‘take back what was ours in the first place and share it in the way we know how best’.

‘I want to say that our whole culture is based on sharing and caring. So a Black Republic would ensure that everyone in this country is well taken care of,” he told youth news website Junkee.

“Everyone in this country understands the true history of this country, understands or has some basic knowledge about how to care for the land they are on and how we have cared for it.”

Senator Thorpe, who was the First Nations spokesperson for the Greens, opposed the Voice in Parliament unless there was a guarantee that indigenous sovereignty would not be ceded, as Voice advocates have insisted that that would it will not happen.

Senator Thorpe said she was committed to the ‘black sovereignty’ movement and would continue to fight for First Nations peoples.

A rewrite of Australia’s Constitution, an Aboriginal-led Republic and a weekly tax are just some of the changes Lidia Thorpe is pushing for after declaring there was a “war” on indigenous Australians.

She made this clear during a speech on Australia Day, where she addressed a rally clutching a war stick and demanded a government treaty with indigenous peoples before the Voice.

“Green MPs, members and supporters have told me they want to support Voice,” he added.

‘This is at odds with the activist community who are saying (we want a) Treaty before Voice. This is the message delivered on the streets on January 26.

‘This is the movement I grew up on. My elders marched for a treaty. This is what I am.

However, despite previously opposing Voice’s proposal, he stated during his speech that he “would not be announcing my position on Voice today.”

‘I want to continue my negotiations with the government. First Nations sovereignty is crucial, but so is saving lives today,” he added.

Ms Thorpe has continuously called for a treaty and supported the ‘Pay the Rent’ scheme during her time in parliament.

Senator Thorpe will also continue to advocate for the ‘Pay the Rent’ scheme which requires Australian landlords to pay a weekly ‘rent’ tax to indigenous groups based on their ancestral claim to the land.

Under the scheme, owners would voluntarily pay a percentage of their income to a body run by Aboriginal elders and run without government oversight or intervention.

One per cent of weekly wages is the level suggested by Robbie Thorpe, a veteran Aboriginal rights activist from Melbourne who ran a similar scheme in Fitzroy in the 1990s, and who is the uncle of Senator Thorpe.

Government statistics from last August say the average earnings of Australian employees were $1,250 per week. Thus distributed evenly, all Australian wage earners could pay an average ‘rent’ of $12.50 a week, adding up to $650 a year.

The ‘pay rent’ tax could also apply to indigenous peoples. Anyone who owns property would pay because it would operate as a form of land tax.

‘Pay the rent from base to base. No ties to the government agenda. It helps sovereign grassroots fight the many campaigns and struggles we face every day,” said Ms. Thorpe.

She has publicly criticized the call for an Indigenous Voice in Parliament, saying that indigenous peoples deserve to be more than an “advisory body”.

Senator Thorpe has called for better representation of indigenous peoples in Parliament with 10 independent seats earmarked for First Nations peoples to help maintain their ‘sovereignty’.

Also on his agenda is a complete rewrite of the Australian Constitution.

“Let’s rewrite the Constitution, or remove everything that is racist in the Constitution,” he said. junkie in December.

“Let’s update the Constitution to fit this country today, because when it was written, when it was established in 1901, it’s very different than where it is in 2022.”

His call for a change to the Constitution stems from his desire for indigenous Australians to have “real power”.