A parliamentary investigation into senator Lidia Thorpe’s undisclosed relationship with former motorcycle gang leader Dean Martin has cleared her of contempt of parliament.
Key points:
- The ABC reported Lidia Thorpe was in an undisclosed relationship with former Rebels president Dean Martin last year
- Senator Thorpe lost her Greens leadership position and referred herself to the privileges committee for investigation
- The committee says there is no evidence of contempt but found Senator Thorpe should have declared the relationship
In October last year, the ABC revealed former staffers in Senator Thorpe’s office were concerned about her undisclosed relationship with the former president of the Rebels motorcycle gang while she was also sitting on the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee. The ABC does not suggest Mr Martin has any continuing association with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
The matter led to Senator Thorpe being stripped of the deputy leadership of the Greens in the senate, and she then referred herself to the privileges committee for her conduct to be investigated.
The committee tabled its report in the Senate on Tuesday. It found that Senator Thorpe did not disclose any sensitive information to Mr Martin, but took the view she should have declared her relationship to avoid a perceived conflict of interest.
“Senators should exercise caution in relation to the possibility of direct conflicts of interest and also the perception that their personal relationships may conflict with their official duties,” the report says.
The committee raised issues with the reporting on the matter, labelling parts of the coverage “inaccurate”.
“Media coverage of this matter was clearly intended to suggest that Senator Thorpe had utilised her membership of the joint committee to further the interests of an outlaw motorcycle gang,” the report says.
“The implications that Senator Thorpe used her position inappropriately or even had access to information of the type speculated about in the media coverage is not borne out.”
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Senator Thorpe said she had been confident the committee would clear her.
“I, for the record, put myself up to the privileges committee because I wanted them to investigate me because I knew I had done nothing wrong,” Senator Thorpe said.
Thorpe denies relationship entirely
After the report was tabled in the Senate, Senator Thorpe responded by denying she was ever in a relationship with Mr Martin but Greens Party lawyers advised her to say she had dated him.
“We kissed once at a rally on the 26th of January. I had no idea who this person was or his background,” she told the Senate.
“I had no relationship with that person. I was given legal advice by the Greens lawyer that I had to say that I’d dated this person.”
In a letter provided to the privileges committee, Senator Thorpe says she met Mr Martin in January of 2021 and briefly dated in March of the same year.
In a statement to ABC News in October last year, Ms Thorpe said she and Mr Martin “met through Blak activism and briefly dated in early 2021”.
Senator Thorpe was a member of the joint committee from February 2021 to April 2022.
The committee reviewed the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s powers to conduct special operations, including activities to combat outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“I didn’t come to this place to do wrong by the committees I sit on … I take that job very, very seriously,” Senator Thorpe said.
Senator Thorpe went on to say to the Senate she was “demonised” by the media and her parliamentary colleagues, and she demanded an apology from Greens leader Adam Bandt.
“You demonised me all, and today I have been cleared of any wrongdoing,” she said.
“I think I deserve an apology from the leader of the Greens for one, because I lost my position as well.”
At the time, Greens leader Mr Bandt described Senator Thorpe’s resignation from her position of deputy leader in the Senate as an “appropriate sanction” based on the facts he had then.
In a statement, Mr Bandt defended his handling of the situation.
“The facts as we understand them are those that are set out in Senator Thorpe’s letter to the privileges committee. The information in the letter is consistent with the information Senator Thorpe and others provided to us,” Mr Bandt said.