Senator Lidia Thorpe left the Greens on her own terms and despite an attempt to keep her in the party’s fold, leader Adam Bandt says.

The Victorian Senator made the bombshell announcement she was quitting the minor party on Monday, against the backdrop of an emerging split with other members over her criticism of the forthcoming referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament.

“My focus now is to grow and amplify the black sovereign movement in this country,” Senator Thorpe said in Canberra – on the day federal parliament returned for 2023.

“I’ll be their voice. I’ve spent my entire life fighting for justice – to save black lives.”

Shortly after, Mr Bandt held his own media briefing at Parliament House.

“I am truly sad to see her leave the Greens,” he said.

“I wish she had made a different decision but I understand that decision and the reasons that she’s given for that decision.

“She is a fighter for her people.”

Little more than a week ago, Mr Bandt had denied there was an irreconcilable conflict between Senator Thorpe’s denunciation of the voice at a rally on Australia Day and her role as First Nations spokeswoman for a party likely to declare its support for the referendum.

Mr Bandt deflected a question about whether Senator Thorpe had behaved with propriety in her time in the Greens, including as its deputy leader.

He met the Australian Federal Police in November after reports emerged that Senator Thorpe had dated a former boss of the Rebels bikie gang, Dean Martin, while serving on a parliamentary committee that had received confidential briefings from the police.

“Senator Thorpe leaves the Greens with our respect, and she’s made an enormous contribution to the Greens party room during this time,” he said on Monday.

“Senator Thorpe is no longer a member of the Greens and I don’t intend to make any further comment about it.”

Senator Thorpe resigned as Greens deputy leader and referred herself to the parliament’s privileges committee after news of her former relationship broke.

In an apparent defiant reference to that scandal, she posted a photo to social media over Christmas showing her posing on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Senator Thorpe had increasingly denounced the proposed Indigenous voice as insulting to Aboriginal sovereignty. She wants the government to instead first sign a treaty with indigenous people.

The Greens party room, however, appears set to support the voice and polling shows the party’s membership is strongly in favour of it.

Mr Bandt said Senator Thorpe could have continued as the party’s First Nations spokeswoman, despite her opposition, and he had advocated a plan that would have had him become the Greens’ referendum spokesman.

“I wanted her to remain and I confirmed that under the [Greens’] constitution she should have the ability to vote differently [on the voice],” he said.

Mr Bandt said he expected that Senator Thorpe would largely vote in line with her former colleagues while sitting as an independent.

Announcing her resignation earlier on Monday, Senator Thorpe said she would vote with the Greens on climate change issues but said nothing about other issues and apparently signaled her intent to take an independent tack on Indigenous issues.

“I thank her for her commitment to continue to vote with the Greens on climate in the Senate,” Mr Bandt said.

“I hope that given that there is a large area of overlap from a policy perspective we’ll continue to work closely during the remainder of this parliament.”

The Greens have a key balance of power vote in the Senate; the government had needed upper house support from its members and one other senator to pass legislation.

Mr Bandt denied that Senator Thorpe moving to the cross bench would diminish the party’s political significance.

“Fundamentally the Greens remain central to the balance of power in the Senate,” he said.

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