Lidia Thorpe rant: Senator launches extraordinary attack on Anthony Albanese and Australia’s police after chilling video emerged of neo-Nazi threatening her – as the ABC is forced to cut away from foul-mouthed statement

Lidia Thorpe has launched an extraordinary attack on Anthony Albanese and Australian police in a foul-mouthed tirade after she was threatened by a neo-Nazi.

The independent senator gave a speech outside Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building on Thursday afternoon – with ABC cutting the live feed of her press conference after she made a defamatory comment about the Prime Minister.

Ms Thorpe was speaking after a disturbing video emerged of a neo-Nazi threatening the senator and burning the Aboriginal flag. She then said the Voice to Parliament referendum had led to racist attacks and threats against her.

“The referendum is a genocide against my people,” she said.

Then she added in an unhinged spout: “And the Prime Minister knows exactly what he’s doing. He wants that damn fascist to come out and get me.”

The woman from Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Warrung then approached the police.

“That’s what he wants because his violent force that he sent to protect me can’t even protect me,” she said.

“Refused to protect the black sovereign woman because police are part of the problem in this country.”

She stated that she could not ‘call 000’ or ‘rely on Victoria Police’.

‘Where is my support? Where is my protection in this country?’ she said.

At one point she tells a disruptive spectator at the press conference to ‘f*** off’.

“Are you trying to portray me as an angry black woman? Well, you’re about to see an angry black woman because I’m not hiding this time,” Senator Thorpe continued.

“I was in exile for four months, four months I was not allowed to be in my own house because people wanted to kill me outside.”

“I hired my own black army… and this parliament must pay for the black army, not the army that continues to violate black men and black women in this country.”

The national broadcaster cut off its press statement.

Mr Albanese was asked by reporters about the rant 20 minutes after it was made.

“I think people need to be respectful during this debate,” he said at a news conference in Brisbane.

‘It is important that people treat each other respectfully.’

The Prime Minister said “the kind of nasty rhetoric and statements” that came from the neo-Nazi video had “no place in the discourse of Australian political life”.

When a reporter pointed out to Mr Albanese that Senator Thorpe had blamed him for the threats, he replied that he would ‘not participate in the debate in this way’.

He then admitted that he had not seen Senator Thorpe’s rant.

“I will continue to behave respectfully, I will continue to campaign for a yes vote in this referendum,” he added.

The video that shocked Ms Thorpe shows a man, dressed in black and wearing a balaclava, claiming to be a member of the neo-Nazi group Warriors for Convict Resistance.

Using a voice modulator, he reads a statement from his phone endorsing ‘white Australia’, makes racist comments about Indigenous people and threatens Senator Thorpe.

He then burns the Aboriginal flag and gives a Nazi salute.

The Australian Federal Police was alerted to the video on Tuesday when it was posted on social media site X.

It has since been removed and the account that posted it has been deactivated, but the AFP continues to investigate the matter.

“Reports of intimidation, nuisance, insulting and threatening communications against parliamentarians/electoral offices have increased over the past two years, including via social media,” an AFP spokesperson told AAP.

“Threats of harm or violence against Australian senior officials are criminal offenses and will be fully investigated by the AFP.”

Federal government frontbenchers have denounced the despicable clip.

Public Services Minister Bill Shorten described it as “cowardly and disgusting” during an appearance on Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.

“I don’t know what it is with these man-baby Nazis,” he said.

“You wear a hood so no one can see you. They think they’re so tough.’

He later added, “I wish that guy would take off his hood so people can see what kind of joker he is.”

“That man can’t even remember his lines, he has to read them from a phone.”

Home Secretary Clare O’Neil also agreed.

“That video is threatening and disgusting, and is clearly deliberately targeted at her to deter her from expressing her views,” she said on the program.

“I have many political differences with Senator Lidia Thorpe, but no one in our country deserves to be treated that way, especially not someone who lives in this country.”

“We cannot live in a strong democracy like Australia if anyone is treated this way.

“It is horribly disgusting and the Australian government will do everything it can to support Senator Lidia Thorpe in what must be an absolutely terrifying experience.”

A similar video, made by the same neo-Nazi group in February 2022, used a racial slur against the leader of the Blak Sovereign Movement and showed the Aboriginal flag being burned.

The Albanian government announced a law earlier this year banning the public display or sale of Nazi symbols.

Victoria passed legislation banning the public display of the Nazi swastika in May last year.

It makes it a criminal offense for anyone to deliberately display the Nazi symbol in public, and those who do so face fines of up to nearly $22,000, twelve months in prison, or both.

People will only be charged if they don’t comply with a police directive to remove the symbol.