‘Silence me’: Lidia’s claim after Senate suspension

Hundreds of indigenous rights activists are rallying on the lawns of Parliament House after Lidia Thorpe was suspended from the Senate for the remainder of the sitting year.

The Greens-turned-independent senator originally organised Thursday’s rally in support of her Genocide Bill, which was set to be debated on the final sitting day of the year.

Speaking to the gathered crowd, she said it was “no coincidence” her suspension clashed with the Bill’s expected debate, and claimed it was a move made to “silence” her.

The Bill will no longer be debated today, as the government races to pass a large amount of its own legislation before Parliament ends for the year.

Protesters waved placards accusing the government of committing genocide against Indigenous Australians and being complicit in genocide in Gaza.

Children posed in front of a mock-roadworks sign displayed by Senator Thorpe that read “Genocide in progress”.

Ahead of the demonstration, the independent Senator said the government had deliberately suspended her to dodge debate of her Bill in the Senate, which has been racing against the clock to muddle its way through dozens of pieces of legislation.

“It’s no coincidence that Labor suspended me from parliament today,” she said.

“This government and the opposition have done all they can to avoid accountability when it comes to justice for First Peoples here and around the world.

“They do all they can to silence me and those who call out genocide and injustice, and they do all they can to avoid accountability for their complicity.”

Police watched the mass outside Parliament House hawkishly.

Meanwhile, inside the nation’s legislature, security was beefed up around the Upper House after Senator Thorpe earlier stormed into the Press Gallery and shouted at her colleagues.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson has slammed Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe for her “egregious behaviour” in the Senate which saw her suspended. Ms Thorpe was suspended from the Senate for the remainder of the week after a sensational paper-throwing rant. “A line was crossed yesterday, and Senator Thorpe’s behaviour of papers at Senator Hanson and then flipping the bird on her way out of the chamber is conduct that the Senate can’t tolerate,” Mr Paterson told Sky News Australia. “On a bipartisan basis … we took the very unusual step of suspending her from the Senate under the Senate standing orders.”

The Senate voted on Wednesday to suspend Senator Thorpe after she ripped up a motion by Pauline Hanson and threw it at her.

Senator Hanson was questioning rogue Labor senator Fatima Payman’s eligibility to sit in the Upper House.

The incident was the latest in a series of actions that most parliamentarians on all sides of politics have condemned as undermining parliament.