No, former Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe has not joined a “terrorist organisation”

^{By Renee Davidson}

In the wake of Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe’s exit from the Greens Party, social media users are sharing a Facebook article that falsely claims she has joined a “black terrorist organisation”. 

At a press conference on February 6, 2023, Senator Thorpe announced her resignation from the federal Greens Party and made clear her intention to sit on the crossbench to enable her to better represent the “black sovereign movement”. 

“This country has a strong grassroots black sovereign movement, full of staunch and committed warriors, and I want to represent that movement fully in this Parliament. It has become clear to me that I can't do that from within the Greens,” Senator Thorpe said in her resignation speech. 

She continued: “My focus now is to grow and amplify the black sovereign movement in this country – something we’ve never had since this place [parliament] was established. There is a black sovereign movement out there that no one wants to listen to. So I’ll be their voice.” 

The following day, an Australian fringe media outlet published an article featuring the headline: “Extremist Lidia Thorpe Quits Greens: Joins Black Terrorist Organisation”. 

The author repeats the claim in the body of the article, citing Senator Thorpe’s resignation statement to claim falsely that her intended role is “one of infiltration on behalf of a black terrorist organisation”. 

But the claim is false. The black sovereign movement, also known as the Blak sovereign movement or the Indigenous sovereign movement, seeks self-determination for First Nations people – empowering  them to practise their own culture, religion and lores and to control their own affairs. It is a grassroots movement, and not an organisation as alleged in the article shared on Facebook. 

Senator Thorpe elaborated on the black sovereign movement in a Guardian podcast titled “Lidia Thorpe on Blak sovereignty and leaving the Greens”. 

“We need a Blak sovereign movement in this country,” she said in the podcast episode. 

“It’s us reclaiming who we are as black people – B. L. A. K Sovereignty,” she said. 

Meanwhile, RMIT FactLab found no evidence of a terrorist organisation related to the Indigenous sovereignty movement in Australia. 

According to the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, a “terrorist organisation” is defined as one that a court has found to be “directly or indirectly engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act”, or an organisation that has been listed by the government according to regulations. 

In Australia, there are currently 29 organisations listed as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code. All of the listed terrorist organisations operate outside of Australia and none are related to the Indigenous sovereignty movement.

_{Thumbnail photo credit -  ABC News: Matt Roberts.}