Lidia Thorpe says she’s not crazy: Claims PM reads XYZ

The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has hit back at Anthony Albanese’s suggestions that health issues could be behind her early-morning altercation outside a Melbourne strip club, claiming the prime minister and her detractors are “taking their info from rightwing media”.

Thorpe has come under fire this week after video circulated of her in an expletive-laden argument with several men outside a Brunswick club at about 3am on Sunday morning. One person is heard calling Thorpe a “racist dog”. She replies: “Any black man that stands with the f—-ing white little c—- like that, youse can all get fucked, too.”

Asked about the incident in a 2SM radio interview on Wednesday morning, Albanese said there were “obvious issues that need to be dealt with in terms of her health issues”, adding: “I hope that Lidia gets some support. I think that that level of behaviour is quite clearly unacceptable.

“These are not the actions of anyone who should be participating in society in a normal way, let alone a senator,” Albanese said.

“Lidia needs to be very conscious of the way in which this behaviour has been seen. They are repeat exercises now.”

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In Albanese’s comments about the altercation in a 2SM radio interview on Wednesday morning, he pointed to an incident in February when Thorpe temporarily blocked the Sydney Mardi Gras parade.

The senator was seen lying on the ground in front of a float, before being approached by two officers. In a tweet, Thorpe implied that she was protesting against a police presence in the parade.

On Wednesday, Albanese said: “Why someone would lay in front of that truck in order to get attention is beyond my comprehension and I hope that she gets some form of support.”

After the incident, the One Nation senator Pauline Hanson, who frequently engages in arguments with Thorpe in the parliament, suggested Thorpe should be investigated by police. The Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told Sunrise that he had started to “feel sorry for her”, while the Labor minister Tanya Plibersek said Thorpe’s behaviour was “unacceptable”.

The former Greens senator on Wednesday described Albanese’s comments as “insulting”.

“My health is not for him to comment. Very inappropriate,” she said. “It’s an attempt to demonise me based on misinformation,” Thorpe told Guardian Australia.

“Nothing new really. Another day in the colony.

“The PM like others are taking their info from rightwing media. If that’s any indication of where he thinks truth is told, then that’s on him.”