Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe heckles King Charles at parliament, says you are not my king, escorted out

An independent Australian senator on Monday interrupted King Charles’s parliamentary reception during his visit to the country, shouting anti-colonial slogans like “you are not my king”, before being whisked away by security personnel.

“You are not my king. You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people,” charged Lidia Thorpe, who is known for her fierce opposition to monarchy and an outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights, in remarks that went viral on social media.

The incident occurred as King Charles and Queen Camilla are currently in Australia on a five-day visit. The King addressed Australian MPs and senators in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra today, The Guardian reported. This was King Charles’s first visit to Australia as a monarch and also the first since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

As King Charles finished his speech during his reception, Thorpe, an Indigenous senator from Victoria, who was a guest at the event, strode up from the aisle of the hall and shouted at the monarch seated a few metres away, “This is not your land. You are not my king.”

“You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist,” said Thorpe, wearing a fur cloak. As security personnel escorted her to the hall door, the senator again shouted, saying, “This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king. F*** the colony.”

As security personnel moved to prevent Thorpe from reaching King Charles, the monarch pulled Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese aside for a discussion on the hall’s podium, ABC News reported.

Australia was once a British colony for over 100 years and thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed or displaced during that time. While the country gained de facto independence in 1901, it is not yet a full-fledged republic and remains a constitutional monarchy. King Charles is the current head of state.

Earlier before the incident, Thorpe had turned her back while a choir performed the Australian anthem for the royal couple.

Thorpe’s outburst led to condemnation from several Australians, with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott calling it “unfortunate political exhibitionism”.

“It’s unfortunate political exhibitionism. That’s all I’d say,” Abbott, who was present at the event, said.

Dick Smith, an Australian businessman, who was also there at the Great Hall, said, “I think that’s the wonderful part of our democracy – that she’s not going to be put in jail.”

This is not the first time that Thorpe grabbed headlines for her remarks and actions against the monarchy.

In 2022, Thorpe raised her right fist and used the word “colonising” when she was asked to declare her allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, who was then Australia’s head of state, and the mother of King Charles.

“I sovereign, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said before being rebuked by a Senate official who asked her to recite the oath printed on the card.

Last year, Australians overwhelmingly rejected a referendum on including Indigenous Australians in the constitution and to create a separate assembly for the community.

In 1999, more than half of Australians voted against removing the queen amid a row about whether her replacement should be chosen by MPs or the people.

(with inputs from AFP)