Radio host Ben Fordham has called out senator Lidia Thorpe over her allegations of racial profiling at Canberra Airport.
Senator Thorpe claimed she’d been racially targeted when she tried to check in, and used the incident as the first case in the new Call It Out anti-racism register.
But the senator’s accusations have now been questioned after she revealed new details on Tuesday about the clash with airport staff.
The 2GB’s breakfast show host has accused the senator of ‘throwing a hissy fit’ at check-in over being told her hand luggage was too heavy.
‘This happens all the time at airports,’ Fordham blasted.
‘It’s got nothing to do with being an Indigenous person, or being racially profiled.
Senator Lidia Thorpe claimed she’d been racially targeted when she tried to check in, and used the incident as the first case in the new Call It Out anti-racism register
‘I’m guessing you blew up. You thought the rules were different for you. And that’s why they called security. Am I wrong? Or am I right?’
Senator Thorpe first aired the allegations on Monday but gave few details and she did not return calls to Daily Mail Australia.
But on Tuesday, the senator went on ABC Radio National to reveal more about how the situation escalated as she tried to check in last December.
‘I lined up into the express lane to board the plane and I was standing there for seven minutes and was completely ignored,’ she said.
2GB’s breakfast show host Ben Fordham has accused the senator of ‘throwing a hissy fit’ at check-in over being told her hand luggage was too heavy
Senator Lidia Thorpe went on ABC Radio National to reveal more about how the situation escalated as she tried to check in for a Virgin flight last December
‘I jumped over to the general line and then watched others being served in the express lane while I stood in the the regular line.’
She claimed she was then told her handbag was too heavy to take on board as carry on luggage and she would need to leave something behind.
‘I said, “Well, I don’t know what to do because I can’t leave anything behind”. And they proceeded to call security on me,’ she said.
‘I’ve never had security called on me in my whole life.
‘When I saw security coming at me, I just grabbed my bags and walked away. I couldn’t get on any plane and had to wait to contact my staff and get on a Qantas flight.’
Senator Lidia Thorpe claimed she was then told her handbag was too heavy to take on board as carry on luggage and she would need to leave something behind
Senator Lidia Thorpe claimed Canberra Airport staff called security on her and said she had been racially profiled during the incident
She added: ‘I just don’t think this would have happened to a white woman.
‘It happened to me because I believe I was racially profiled given that the express lane was still taking non-black people very quickly and very easily.’
But Fordham accused the senator of missing out key details from her account of the incident and slammed: ”You are kidding yourself, Senator Thorpe, seriously.
‘When you were told you weren’t allowed to take the bag on the plane because it was too heavy, you were arguing the point.
‘I’m guessing you blew up. I’m guessing you had a hissy fit. You refuse to accept the umpire’s decision. They make those decisions based on safety and what’s safe to be happening on an aeroplane.
‘It’s got nothing to do with race. It’s called being at an airport. And maybe you should learn to be like an adult.’
The senator’s check in clash has been recorded as the first case in a new directory of racial discrimination against First Nations people in Australia
Radio host Ben Fordham accused the senator of leaving out key details from her account of the incident and said she had ‘thrown a hissy fit’ – and it had nothing to do with race
Canberra Airport told Daily Mail Australia they received a letter on Monday from senator Thorpe about the incident in December.
‘We have reached out to her to arrange a time to meet,’ an airport spokesman added. Daily Mail Australia has also contacted Virgin Australia for comment.
The incident was revealed as Senator Thorpe used it as the first case to be recorded in the new Call It Out directory which aims to chronicle racial discrimination against Indigenous Australians.
It’s the brainchild of lawyer George Newhouse of the National Justice Project and Professor Larissa Behrendt at Sydney’s University of Technology.
It’s based on similar directories by activists which catalogue homophobic attacks and incidents against Muslims and Jews.
The Call It Out directory is the brainchild of lawyer George Newhouse of the National Justice Project, based on similar registers of homophobic and anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic incidents
Mr Newhouse stressed the incidents would all be vetted ‘by academics’ before being included in the new registry.
‘They’ll be monitored and they’re not public,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It’s not just going to be an online public display of incidents.
‘It will be a flag on the map and it will insert data in the report, but there will be no names or identifiers.
‘The data will be used to drive change and to highlight the problems First Nations people are facing across the nation.
‘Hopefully it will identify hotspots and issues that they are addressing and will be an extremely useful tool for driving societal change and stamping out racism against First Nations people.’
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