AFP investigates Lidia Thorpe’s claim she would ‘burn down’ Parliament House

Senator says her words at Melbourne pro-Gaza rally were ‘a metaphor’ and the reaction to them ‘mock outrage’ that distracts from Palestinian suffering

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The Australian federal police has said it is investigating whether independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s claim to a pro-Palestinian rally in Melbourne that she would “burn down” Parliament House has breached legislation.

Thorpe told the rally on Sunday: “We stand with you every day, and we will fight every day, and we will turn up every day, and if I have to burn down Parliament House to make a point … I am not there to make friends.”