Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has again been embroiled in controversy after vision emerged of her yelling and swearing at a group of men outside a strip club in Melbourne’s inner north.
In the footage aired by 7News Melbourne, Thorpe can be seen berating men assembled on the pavement outside Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick at 3am on Sunday.
Senator Lidia Thorpe confronts the group of men who traded barbs with her outside a strip club on Sunday. Credit: 7News
During the clash, which was filmed on a mobile phone, the senator points to each of the men and launches into a tirade laden with profanities, with the men responding in kind.
Thorpe was reportedly in Melbourne to celebrate a 50th birthday before the altercation. A friend of the senator could be seen on the vision trying to pull her away from the group and into a waiting taxi while the confrontation occurred.
The senator told 7News the group of men singled her out and provoked her, taking issue with her stance on Indigenous affairs.
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One of the men can be heard on the footage calling her a “racist dog” while another asks how she was elected to parliament.
“It’s sad people are utilising whatever they can to drag me down when we’re trying to discuss important issues in this country,” Thorpe said in a statement.
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald have contacted Thorpe’s office directly for comment.
Sunday morning’s incident in Melbourne comes less than a month after Thorpe was tackled on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra after trying to confront people attending an anti-trans rally.
A former Greens senator, Thorpe split from the party in February after a long-running dispute over the Voice to parliament referendum.
