Lidia Thorpe, Victoria’s First Female Indigenous MP, Just Gave An Extraordinary First Speech
"There's a fire in my belly for justice, equality and protecting country."
Just last week, Lidia Thorpe was elected as the first Indigenous woman ever to serve in Victorian Parliament. Today, she gave her first speech to that Parliament, and it was seriously great.
Thorpe, who is a Gunnai-Gunditjmara woman, entered the chamber wearing a possum-skin cloak hand-sewn by the Loddon Campaspe Indigenous Family Violence Action Group and Centre for Nonviolence and gifted to her by Gunnai-Gunditjmara elder Aunty Beryl. As she gave her speech, Aboriginal students from her electorate of Northcote watched from the public gallery.
Getting ready for the historic moment! #springst pic.twitter.com/eZorHjGC5A
— Ellen Sandell (@ellensandell) November 29, 2017
In her first speech, Thorpe spoke of her Indigenous heritage, her experience as a survivor of family violence, and as a public housing resident, committing to represent all of these communities in her time in Parliament.
“For an Aboriginal kid who grew up in public housing and left school at fourteen, taking a seat in this chamber is something I was told could never happen,” she said.
For so many Indigenous kids, she said, “their lives are debated but not reflected in our political system. They can’t be what they can’t see — this is why today matters.”
Lidia Thorpe will making her maiden speech at 4pm, you can watch it here: https://t.co/JXjeM1Xm0X #springst pic.twitter.com/eJ20ZlHGKR
— Beck Stuart (@beckstuart) November 29, 2017
“I’m honoured to be the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Victorian Parliament,” she continued. “We’ve sustained and protected this land for thousands of years, and now in Victoria we finally have a say in how our land is governed.”
She gave credit to the strong line of Aboriginal women who came before her for making this possible, noting her Nan’s activism in taking in people who needed a home. She also emphasised the important role public housing played in her upbringing, as well as that of so many others.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child,” she said, “and that’s the life I’ve known. People in public housing communities took care of each other. We can’t remove the only support and security these people have.
“That’s why we must do politics differently. The profits of developers cannot be put before people. Gambling companies must not be allowed to destroy our communities with pokie machines. The system is rigged against the little guy.
“There’s a fire in my belly for justice, equality and protecting country. I will bring that to this parliament.”
Thorpe then returned her focus to the significance of being the first Indigenous woman elected to Victorian Parliament, noting that the importance of the moment cannot be understated.
“Decisions made in this very chamber took our language away, removed children from our families, and forced us from our land. Those scars run deep for all Aboriginal people. But despite the deep sense of loss, I grew up surrounded by people who refused to give in to hopelessness.”
“I’ve always been a fighter. But it breaks my heart to think of all the Aboriginal people who’ve lost that will to survive,” she said. “This is not because of fundamental flaws in their character, but because of a system has written them off.”
Thorpe concluded her speech by praising the work of Clinton Pryor, the young Indigenous man who completed a year-long walk across the country earlier this year. She noted the way that he listened and collected stories from Indigenous people across the country — “a heavy burden for a young man, but he listened, and that is what politicians must do.”
“We are not a problem to be fixed,” she said of the Indigenous community she pledged to represent. “We are the custodians of this land and the oldest living culture in the world. We must be heard.”
“For those who feel they’re not being counted, for those who’ve lost the will to fight, and for those who are no longer with us, I will be that voice. I will fight for you.”
Her speech was met with applause from the chamber. If this is what Thorpe delivers in one speech, we can’t wait to see what she does with an entire term in Parliament.