Lidia Thorpe: The Indigenous woman shaking up Australia

Granddaughter of a revered Indigenous matriarch takes her fight for equality nationwide as member of the federal parliament.

Melbourne, Australia – The image is striking. Draped in a possum-skin cloak Senator Lidia Thorpe entered her first day in the Australian Federal parliament last September with her right fist raised in a Black Power salute. In her left hand, she carried a stick engraved with 441 stripes representing the number of Indigenous people to die in custody since a landmark Royal Commission in 1991.