I am a proud Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, mother, grandmother and Senator from Victoria.

My story is grounded in my family’s legacy, the ongoing resistance of First Peoples on this continent, and our long, unfinished fight for justice, truth, Sovereignty, and to end the genocide of our people.

Where I Come From

I grew up in and around the Collingwood, Fitzroy, Clifton Hill and Northcote public housing flats, surrounded by staunch Elders, activists and community. My grandmother, Alma Thorpe, founded the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service in 1973 — delivering genuine community-controlled, culturally grounded care when our people were locked out of the system. My mother, Marjorie Thorpe, co-commissioned the Bringing Them Home report, telling the truth about the Stolen Generations. She later served on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and has fought hard her whole life to end deaths in custody.

These strong women — alongside my uncle Robbie Thorpe and other Elders like Uncle Bruce McGuinness — showed me what resistance looks like. They taught me that we don’t wait for permission. We organise and we fight. We take care of each other. We tell the truth — no matter who it makes uncomfortable.

I left school at 14 after years of racism that made it impossible to stay. My first job was at the Koori Information Centre in Fitzroy — a hub of Blak political education, energy, and resistance. Later, I worked in Aboriginal health and the Aboriginal funeral service, supporting families through their deepest grief — often after a loved one had died in custody — and at Centrelink, where I saw how the system is designed to hold our people down. Before entering Victorian parliament, I served six years in local government, and I know the power of good local representation. 

These weren’t just jobs — they were lessons in the brutality of this colony and the strength of our people. Those experiences shaped my determination to take our people’s fight to the places where decisions are made.

My Work for My People

First Peoples across this continent are bound by our shared struggle, unbroken strength, survival and spirit. Our power is in our culture, our kinship and our connection to Country.

I’ve always been a grassroots person — bringing mob together to heal, to organise, and to celebrate our strength. Whether chairing the Victorian NAIDOC Committee or holding cultural gatherings on my own Country, my work has always been about truth-telling, unity and our collective power.

I’ve lived the trauma of our people — my family has lost loved ones to deaths in custody and suicide,and had our babies taken. My family and I have felt that pain. Every Blak family has, and every one of our mob has been touched by this violence. This is our collective trauma, but it also drives our resistance.

That’s why I fight: for justice, for healing, for our right to live free and in peace on our own land.

Infiltrating the Colony

In 2017, I was elected to the Victorian Parliament, and in 2020, to the federal parliament as a Senator for Victoria.

I didn’t enter politics to play their game — I went in to shake the colony from the inside and hold those in power to account. Swearing allegiance to a foreign crown to become a Senator went against everything I stand for, but with guidance and permission from my Elders, I took the chance to infiltrate the system and speak our truth directly to those who have caused our people so much harm.

In February 2023, I left the Greens to become an independent Senator representing the Blak Sovereign Movement, so I could fight for justice for First Peoples without having to tow any political party line.

Since then, I’ve used my platform to hold this colony to account — demanding Land Back, Treaty, and an end to the ongoing genocide of First Peoples. Colonisation isn’t history — it continues today. The violence of invasion never stopped — it just changed shape. It lives on in the destruction of our Country and waters, the removal and incarceration of our children, the killing of our people, and the silencing of our voices.

But I know who we are. We’ve survived every attempt to wipe us out. And we’re still here — still strong, still Sovereign, still resisting.

Why I Fight

I fight for the survival of Country, our mother, who has sustained us since forever.

I fight so that my children, grandchildren, and future generations can live free on their own Country, speak their language, and grow up proud and strong, surrounded by community and culture. I fight for my ancestors, whose blood and spirit flow through me. I fight for all First Peoples on this continent, whose strength and Sovereignty are unbroken. 

My Senate seat belongs to them — to my people. My role in this parliament is not to fit in — it’s to shake the colony, tell the truth, and demand justice that our people are owed.

Sovereignty never ceded.

Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

The fight continues.