Lidia Thorpe’s undisclosed relationship with ex bikie boss alarms staff
Two former Greens staffers to Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe say they raised concerns with the office of party leader Adam Bandt about her relationship with the former president of the Rebels bikie gang Dean Martin while she sat on the joint parliamentary law enforcement committee.
That committee has received confidential briefings in the past about bikie gangs and organised crime which prompted concerns about a potential conflict of interest. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age does not suggest that Thorpe shared any confidential information with any person not authorised to receive it.
Lidia Thorpe’s undisclosed relationship with an ex bikie boss alarmed her staff.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
This masthead has spoken to one of the two former staffers with direct knowledge of the relationship and that person has signed a statutory declaration confirming that Thorpe disclosed the relationship to them.
The statutory declaration canvasses what Thorpe told the former staffer about her relationship with Martin.
This masthead has agreed not to name either of the former staffers so they were willing to discuss the matter.
The two former staffers to Thorpe say they also urged her to speak to Bandt about the relationship but were rebuffed.
The second former staffer directly approached Greens leader Adam Bandt’s office about the relationship but, the first former staffer said, their concerns were rebuffed.
The ABC has reported that Thorpe confirmed she “briefly dated” Martin, an ex-Rebels president. Martin has no criminal convictions but was associated with the Rebels for 25 years.
This masthead does not suggest he has any continuing association with the Rebels. He stepped down in 2018 as president after his brother, Shane Martin, the father of Richmond star Dusty Martin, was deported to New Zealand.
Thorpe and the Greens have been contacted for comment.
This masthead revealed last month that Thorpe had been accused of verbally abusing Indigenous elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson during a meeting in parliament house in 2021.
Thorpe’s former chief-of-staff wrote to Atkinson this year to apologise for the way the meeting unfolded, saying the senator’s behaviour had left him “scared and in shock” and describing it as among the most unprofessional conduct he had ever witnessed.
More to come.
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