Senator Lidia Thorpe Cleared Of Contempt Over Relationship With Former Bikie

Senator Lidia Thorpe is pushing for an apology after being cleared following an inquiry into a previous relationship with a former bikie. 

Ms Thorpe was forced to stand down as deputy senate leader of the Greens party after information exposed a relationship with former Rebels bikie boss Dean Martin. 

Her resignation followed claims that the senator was involved in confidential meetings about bikie gangs while working on the law enforcement committee.

In a bid to clear her name, Senator Thorpe put herself forward to the senate privileges committee for an internal review to determine whether failing to disclose her former relationship with Martin was grounds for contempt. 

An official report by the privileges committee was released on Tuesday evening clearing Senator Thorpe of contempt but criticising her failure to declare the relationship.

“The committee is of the view that Senator Thorpe should have declared her relationship with Mr Martin to the joint committee as a potential conflict of interest with her work on the committee,” the report said.

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“However, on the basis of the evidence provided by the joint committee and Senator Thorpe, the committee is satisfied that no disclosure of such material has occurred and that the operations of the joint committee have not been impeded.

“The committee therefore concluded that a contempt should not be found in relation to the matters referred to it.”

- The Privileges Committee

Following the report findings, Senator Thorpe claimed she had been pushed to say she had been in a relationship with Martin by lawyers for the Greens.

“I had no relationship with that person. I was given legal advice by the Greens lawyer to say that I had dated this person,” she said. 

“We kissed once at a rally on the 26th of January. I had no idea who this person was or his background.”

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