Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has launched an impassioned defence of Australian football superstar Sam Kerr, calling her experience one of "racism".

Kerr, the Matilda's captain and highest profile player is accused of racially aggravated harassment after calling a British police officer PC Lovell "f**king stupid and white" after he doubted her claim that she was being held hostage by a taxi driver in January 2023.

Kerr denies the charges.

Under cross examination at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court, the 31-year-old told the court police treated her differently because of "the colour of my skin" when they doubted her experience.

She explained her fear at being locked in a taxi that was speeding and swerving, saying it left her "terrified" for her life.

Senator Thorpe, an outspoken advocate against racism, said the experience of Kerr "is what so many black and brown women experience every single day".

"She had been locked in a taxi for 20 minutes, unsure of where she was going or whether she was being kidnapped," the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurring Senator told the Senate.

"Her simple request to that police officer was that he put himself in her shoes. But, instead of interviewing the taxi driver to investigate Sam's concerns, the police officer decided to belittle and ignore her.

"This is racism."

Calling someone white is not racism. Racially profiling a brown woman is. Hope that helps x pic.twitter.com/iifM9QWtJc

— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) February 5, 2025

Kerr said after a night out with her partner, American international Kristie Mewis, they failed to order an uber three times, before getting a London black cab—something Kerr said she rarely did having grown up during WA's Claremont serial killer case.

She told the court after throwing up out of the window before resting her head on it, the driver changed his demeanour and was "swerving in and out of lanes" and "smashing on the brakes".

Kerr said Mewis used her boot to smash the back window of the taxi because they feared for their lives having been "being thrown around" and asking the driver to stop the taxi multiple times.

Senator Thorpe said racism, as a "definition", was a "system of power and oppression based on race".

"Racism is about how power works to oppress people already copping it. It is a system that upholds white supremacy, like this place [Federal Parliament]," she said.

"A white cop who is a part of a system that upholds white supremacy and who benefits from white supremacy cannot be a victim of white supremacy."

Kerr had previously told the court the officers - all male – "had all the power in that moment," and she felt "powerless".

She argued officer PC Lovell "had no idea about the power or privilege".

Senator Thorpe, who last year took aim at fellow Senator Pauline Hanson after she was found guilty of breaching the racial discrimination act, urged people to "educate yourselves, about what racism really is," arguing people continued to make "uninformed" comments on Kerr's case.

"We have a long way to go to understand what racism really is in this country and how it functions in our everyday society," she said.