Donna Bates: Rank hypocrisy behind Lidia Thorpe’s King Charles stunt

Protest has its place, and I am a firm believer in standing up for your convictions and being heard, and Senator Thorpe’s actions during the King’s visit Tuesday achieved its maximum effect.

Her stunt pushed her front and centre into the news cycle, again. Which let’s face it, was the point, to get her face front and centre on every news and commentary platform. It was calculated but did it actually further her cause?

In 2022, Senator Thorpe was sworn in as a Senator in Australia’s Parliament, at a ceremony in which she affirmed her allegiance to the Crown.

Her actions at the recent royal reception did nothing but simply raise more questions as to what she really stands for. Her actions are hypocritical and counter-intuitive.

Senator Thorpe wants the best of both worlds: the money, influence, power and position that is afforded by her privileged parliamentary role, while at the same time actively disrespecting the institution, her parliamentary colleagues and most importantly those she represents.

What could have been a positive memorable event for those who participated was marred by Thorpe’s actions whose disrespect simply created her own personal vortex, sucking the air out of the room.

For all her fist pumping and taunts, the day simply moved on without her, but not before Thorpe took what she wanted: airtime.

As a member of Parliament, she was afforded access to the King and Queen on their visit — a privileged place where she could have represented her people with honour and dignity, to champion unity and be a beacon of positive change.

She chose however to pull a stunt and grandstand which did nothing to further her cause, but everything to feed her own need for relevance. This is not the kind of politics and leadership that will create real change, it is vacuous and combative.

Real leaders actively participate in creating solutions to problems. While it’s harder to focus on working collaboratively to change attitudes and behaviours, this is where the real problem-solving begins, in honest, hard-fought debate.

Instead, what we are now witnessing is activism parading as politics. It’s a dangerous and slippery slope, creating unnecessary duplicity as the two actions couldn’t be more opposite.

This, along with myriad stunts over the years by Thorpe, shows she is playing at politics, using the institution that supports her to her own end, by pulling political stunts to stay in the media spotlight and pump out clickbait for social media.

The real issue goes much deeper however than what she is saying. It’s what she is doing that is more important. Her goal is to destabilise and create division. How is that furthering her cause?

This year heralded the draft Behaviour Code for Parliamentarians, and Senator Thorpe’s recent behaviour underpins why Parliament needs it.

Interestingly, the first few lines read like this: “Act respectfully, professionally and with integrity. Encourage and value diverse perspectives and recognise the importance of a free exchange of ideas. Recognise your power, influence or authority and do not abuse them. Uphold laws that support safe and respectful workplaces.”

History suggests that Senator Thorpe won’t adhere to the proposed code of conduct.

This has been demonstrated previously in her use of parliamentary privilege to accuse a fellow senator of sexual assault, only to withdraw that accusation to comply with the parliamentary standing orders. This created a media storm detracting from the important issues being discussed in Parliament at the time. Another incident that same year that drew condemnation and criticism was her abusive and profane behaviour outside a strip club.

None of these incidents would give her a pass under the proposed code of conduct and therefore, the need for it becomes even more necessary to keep the focus on the real issues, and not the ensuing media circus surrounding incidents like this.

Nova Peris said it best. “Senator Thorpe’s actions today do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large. They reflect only her.”

Donna Bates is an integrity expert