Peter Dutton says Lidia Thorpe ‘shouldn’t be in the Senate’ after ‘racist’ claim

Lidia Thorpe “shouldn’t be in the Senate”, Peter Dutton says, after the independent accused him of being “racist” and “violent”.

Senator Thorpe made the remarks in an appearance on a podcast earlier this week.

“Dutton is a racist. Dutton is a violent person,” she said, responding to a question about the Opposition Leader’s “Trumpian tactics”.

“Dutton used to be a Queensland police officer who caused damage to a lot of blackfellas on the street, you know, wheeling his power around the streets.”

Mr Dutton on Thursday said the remarks were “absurd”.

“Obviously, just absurd statements, but she’s a publicity seeker,” he told Sydney-based 2GB.

“She shouldn’t be in the Senate. She’s not stable enough to be a member of the Australian parliament, and I think people recognise that through her actions and her model is to attract the attention of the lunatic left, and she does that.”

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Senator Thorpe drew condemnation from fellow parliamentarians across the political spectrum after her expletive-laden protest during King Charles’ visit last year.

She shouted “you are not our king”, “give us treaty” and “f**k the colony” at the monarch after he delivered an address at Parliament House praising Australia.

The Greens-turned-independent was censured in absence for the protest by her fellow senators in November, prompting her to run through the upper house press gallery shouting obscenities at her colleagues.

In the days following her royal protest, she said her pro-Indigenous rights message was “being lost” and she only made the headlines “when I play up”.