The phrase “lack of judgment” seems to crop up frequently around Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe. She lacked it when she shouted a disgusting insult at Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes in the Senate. She lacked it when she abused an Aboriginal elder during a meeting, appalling her chief of staff. And she lacks it when she freelances on Greens’ support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
So the revelation by the ABC that Thorpe had a brief relationship with former bikie boss Dean Martin while she was serving on Parliament’s joint standing committee on law enforcement fits a pattern. She decided, despite her own staff strongly warning her, that it wasn’t an issue worth disclosing. She now admits that was poor judgment.
What’s more serious is that Thorpe’s staff told Adam Bandt’s chief of staff, Damien Lawson, about the matter and Lawson didn’t tell Bandt. Lawson has been “counselled” over that lack of judgment, Bandt said yesterday.
There’s been plenty of criticism of Bandt over his failure to exercise leadership in relation to Thorpe — especially his failure to even acknowledge complaints about Thorpe’s abuse from Bangerang/Wiradjuri woman Aunty Geraldine Atkinson in 2021. But it’s difficult to exercise leadership if no one tells you about a problem that needs fixing.
All successful political leaders rely on good staff. They can’t know everything; they need people with good judgment acting as filters to make sure what needs attention gets attention. If your staff, especially your chief of staff, lack judgment, bad things happen. Like finding out from the media that one of your team had a serious undisclosed conflict of interest. And that your own staff knew and chose not to tell you. WA Senator Dorinda Cox also knew of the relationship.
This is twice now that Bandt’s office has stuffed up on a sensitive issue involving Thorpe. The Atkinson matter was embarrassing for a party that likes to take the high ground on parliamentary behaviour. The non-disclosure regarding Thorpe is worse.
The Greens have complained for years that they’re not permitted to join the joint standing committee on intelligence and security. This has handed the major parties an excuse to never even consider adding a Green. Greens party members and other MPs and senators must be pulling their hair out about the way the party has stumbled from one stuff-up to the next since a hugely successful election.
Over the past 15 years, the Greens have achieved the unusual feat of moving from bit-player status in the Senate to the third party of Australian politics. Every other party that has tried that feat has dissolved into acrimony and division along the way — the Democrats, Pauline Hanson, Clive Palmer’s outfits, Nick Xenophon, etc. The Greens have morphed into the key crossbench party in the Senate with several lower house seats while displaying unity, discipline and ego control of a kind no other minor party has been able to match.
That record is now starting to look a little frayed. And it will look a lot worse if people don’t start displaying good judgment.
Or would not telling Bandt have been plausible deniability as we’ve seen so often with political staffers?
Plausible deniability is supposed to provide cover and put whoever uses it in a better position than they would be if they knew what was going on. Does not work in this case, does it?
Well of course it works. Surely it’s better than admitting you knew of such a transgression yet, as leader, did nothing about it. It’s not much better, but it is better.
Can we clarify a few facts here?
The guy in question has NO criminal convictions.
He WAS the president of the Vic chapter of the Rebels until 2018
He and Thorpe apparently were an item in 2021, yes while she was a member of a parliamentary committee considering responses to outlaw bikie gangs.
Sure, it’s not a great look. But it seems the main problem is that it can be made to look much worse than it is.
I’d love to know who gave the tip to the ABC – possibly timed to coincide with the announcement that Labor is funding a $1.5B gas project in the NT.
There is no doubt that with The Greens now holding 16 spots in the Federal parliament, Labor is absolutely focused on destroying them.
Whoever they are, if they weren’t from Bandt’s office, then they have a mate who is.
So what stopped her from mentioning the relationship?
All the rest that you mention is besides the point. Thorpe could have been open. Her attempts at concealment are the cause of all the trouble and embarrassment, and this is far from the only example of her execrable judgement. Trying to blame everyone else on her behalf, and pretending there’s some great conspiracy, is just silly.
Why did she need to mention it? It would appear he is of good character.
It does not matter at all whether he is really of good character or not. She needed to mention it because it is necessary to address not only the reality but also the appearance of a conflict of interest. This is not anything new, any credible code of conduct takes that line. Here for example is the Australian Public Service Commission Code of Conduct on Conflict of Interest:
How many Public Service drones actually report any of this? Stuff all I suspect.
BTW. Personal relationships are not “personal interests”.
A distinction without a difference. The one inevitably leads to the other.
Bollocks. Look up the PGPA legislation. It relates to financial and liability interests.
They are as they both influence us and as information we are party to can be shared and used by them regardless we may not be aware of how. (general principle, not referring to Thorpe.)
Rubbish. Based on that “criteria” all Voters should be subject to the same tests and be forced to meet criteria to be able to vote! Let’s judge all voters by someone they dated briefly (who had not committed a criminal offence) shall we?
The usual media, polls and social media BS that is nothing more than a Kangaroo Court of “opinion”.
Surprised you don’t see a difference between voters and politicians.
Some do. If they don’t, and it comes out later during a witch hunt, then it burns them. I report conflicts of interest in my workplace when there’s a lot less at stake. One never knows when someone else is going to use or misuse information for personal gain, and I try not to provide such people with ammunition.
That reveals more about society than anything else. A non-business personal relationship with another law abiding citizen should never have to be reported to an Employer. That is a complete invasion of privacy.
I’m sure that being “of good character” is an important qualification for a Rebels bikie gang president, who has apparently had a 25 year relationship with the gang.
When she dated the guy he wasn’t a bikie anymore so it is entirely possible that she thought it irrelevant. Naive? Yes. She must be aware that as a woman, First Nations person AND a Green she is subject to special kind of scrutiny. But there is no proof that she was trying to conceal anything. At best you can accuse her of stupidity, but not of a criminal behaviour.
“She must be aware that as a woman, First Nations person AND a Green she is subject to special kind of scrutiny”.
That statement alone encapsulates the issue at hand and reflects the abysmal state of politics in this country. Doing the job is what’s important, not what anyone’s Gender, race or political alignment is.
Joe Mccarthy would smile if he knew his legacy had moved to Australia.
Agatek did not make any value judgement as to the rights or wrongs of that “special kind of scrutiny”, so you can get down off that high horse. But I believe the conclusion to be drawn from Ms Thorpe’s actions in apparently not taking that “scrutiny” (right or wrong) into account, as Agatek points out, does qualify as a certain kind of stupid. Do we really want people of that caliber in politics making decisions on our behalf?
You are drawing a long bow by insinuating Labor is to blame for the leak. As for Labor being focused on destroying the Greens perhaps you should take a chill pill. Labor has more important issues/problems to focus on/fix than petty imagined grievances with the Greens.
This is a Greens issue. Lydia must have known she was in the wrong in hiding the relationship otherwise she would have spoken to Bandt about it. I would have thought politicians would be aware that the coverup is as bad as the problem they were intending to hide.
A week after the election an ALP advisor has said that in regards to the Greens Labor’s main focus is to sideline them and marginalise their influence because they’re a competition. The Saturday Paper reported on that the next morning.
Um so? It’s called politics. ALL other political parties are generally considered competition. Unless you’re Liberal and the other political party is the National party.
Some members of the Rebels Motorcycle gang have been convicted of a range of serious offences to do with drugs and arms offences over many years. There is no doubt that Lidia Thorpe put herself in a very compromising position by being simultaneously involved with their former president as recently as 2018 AND being on a committee being given sensitive information re police operations around the activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs. However that committee was also pivotal to look at policing of Indigenous Australians and so Thorpe was on it for very legitimate reasons given the terrible wave of deaths in custody. The very sad part about this is precisely that it has empowered other parties to attack on very reasonable grounds. Lets hope that something really tangible can be done about ending this wave of deaths in custody during the life of this parliament.
And? Some members of the Police force have been convicted of a range of serious offences to do with drugs and arms offences over many years. Does that mean that a personal relationship with a cop needs to be disclosed if they haven’t had a criminal conviction?
He was the President of the Rebels after Vella was detained in Malta. What your proposing is just ridiculous and you are expecting everyone to believe this pollyannerish nonsense. Thorpe should have stepped down from that committee. Think she knows that. At the very least she should have informed Bandt.
No just the hypocrisy of the Media, polls of the rabble and, most of all, social media where you are “guilty until proven innocent”. Personal privacy is what is at stake along with the decency of Australian politics.
Very simple question for you. If the Planning Minister was having a relationship with the CEO of a major developer, should they declare that relationship?
Hold up, she’s a Green, not even in opposition really, at the time in question. It was 3 years after he left the leadership role. Should every MP from every party declare their (brief) partners full histories up to and beyond 3 years after the fact? There would be plenty of strife to be found i bet – property developers, bikies, neo-nazis, violent offenders, reporters, alleged rapists, AAT members, conmen, police and justices among a few id be willing to bet the farm would feature. The difference here, why everyone is OK with joining the witchhunt, is that she is an indigenous female. Michaelia Cash had a horrendous conflict of interests with lucrative covid contracts being awarded without tender, to her partner. I saw one snippet on it, and the media dropped it. Her partner profited from it, but we don’t care. YTs are OK. Dutton and his childcare centres during covid.. made a squillion.. white male though, so no conflict of interest witch-hunt. Both of those were in govt at the time, thus able to actually secure benefits for their mates.
Or instead Bandt has removed Thorpe as a potential challenger, and Bandt has “plausible deniability”. Let’s assume the Greens are just like any other political party for once and that they play politics harder inside the party room than out of it.
If Albanese and the rest of the Labor leadership had any private inclination at some point to relax their policy of having nothing to do with the Greens, except when it is unavoidable, it will be gone now. The policy is completely vindicated. Keeping the Greens at arms’ length will continue for the foreseeable.
Labor might use many excuses for why they don’t want to work with the Greens but lack of integrity? Really? Sure, Labor has nothing on the Coalition in this area but that doesn’t mean that they’re without a fault. They’ve had their share of problems, too.
Are you suggesting that Labor politicians are beyond being hypocritical?
No. I’m saying (not suggesting – saying) that they ARE hypocrites.
I have to agree.
I doubt that there could be a single, unshattered pane in that glasshouse that was once a shining Light on the Hill.
This is a ridiculous take.
Integrity in politics exists on a spectrum. As does hypocrisy.
By your own standard the ALP are no better than the Coalition.
Disagree. Would discredit Labor to hang a policy of having nothing to do with the Greens (if such exists in fact – not saying doesn’t, just not sure it does) on this as it makes the policy public. Would scream political opportunism and hypocrisy and further diminish trust in government as we want politicians who focus on issues of concern to us instead of bickering and power playing to serve their own interests.
“Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock…. Is that the crocodile in Peter Pan?”
…. What would have happened to Jane Halton and her crew, if she’d “fire-walled” Howard/Reith from the real truth about ‘Children Overboard’?