Key Points
- Senator Lidia Thorpe has disrupted King Charles’ visit to Canberra, accusing him of committing genocide.
- Politicians and Indigenous leaders have questioned the form of commitment, calling it “disappointing.”
- Thorpe defended his actions, saying several requests to the monarch had been “ignored”.
Senator Lidia Thorpe has been criticized by politicians and Indigenous leaders after clashing with King Charles during his visit to Canberra.
While waiting for speeches to end in the Great Hall of Parliament on Monday, Thorpe addressed the king, shouting that she did not accept his sovereignty.
“You committed genocide against our people; give us back our lands; give us back what you stole from us…we want a treaty in this country,” she shouted before being expelled.
Thorpe, an Aboriginal Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, has since said she was forced to heckle the king after her several letters and requests for meetings were “ignored”.
However, reaction to this show of defiance was swift, with both sides of Parliament branding Thorpe’s protest “disrespectful”.
Former senator Nova Peris, who was the first Indigenous woman elected to federal Parliament, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the way Thorpe chose to engage with the king.
“His outburst, which disrupted what should have been a respectful event, was both embarrassing and disrespectful to our nation and the Royal Family,” she wrote on X Overnight.
Peris said a path to reconciliation “requires respectful dialogue and mutual understanding” instead of “divisive actions that distract from the progress we are making as a country.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told ABC’s RN Breakfast that Thorpe “hasn’t advanced anyone’s cause”, saying: “sometimes people only talk about themselves , and I think that’s what happened yesterday.”
Labor senator Murray Watt also questioned the effectiveness of Thorpe’s display after he failed to hear his message from inside the room.
“I don’t think it worked. I don’t think it got the message across to anyone in the room,” he said on ABC’s Q+A Monday night .
“If the idea was to raise the issue with the people in the room, I think it failed miserably.”
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said as a senator Thorpe had other mechanisms to raise her issues.
“As senators and representatives, we have many avenues to express and defend our views and I do not believe what happened yesterday was appropriate,” O’Neil said.
She said the exhibition brought a warm welcome to the country by indigenous leader Aunty Violet Sheridan, who warmly welcomed Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla.
Asked about the incident, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended the king as an “incredible ambassador”, particularly in light of his
“I think he’s doing a fantastic job, and we should remember, in the health context, that he’s doing his public service despite, you know, the health problems that he himself has experienced – so I think he’s doing a great job,” Starmer said.
Thorpe’s protest follows several demonstrations, including large crowds gathering behind a large “decolonized” banner in Sydney as the
Thorpe doubles down on calls for genocide
Speaking on Tuesday, Thorpe said his repeated written requests for a meeting and “respectful conversation” with the monarch had been ignored each time.
“It wasn’t possible for me, so I did this for my people. I did it for my grandmother, and I wanted the world to know that we need a treaty here and we want end this ongoing war against the first people of this country,” she told ABC radio.
“I do not subscribe to the idea of assimilating into the colonial structure.”
Thorpe doubled down on his accusation that the king was complicit in the genocide of indigenous people by remaining silent.
“Why doesn’t he say, ‘I’m sorry for the thousands of massacres that took place in this country and that my ancestors and my kingdom are responsible for them,'” she said.
Asked about her assertion of allegiance to the crown when she was sworn in as a parliamentarian, Thorpe said she did so under duress and to fulfill her duties.
Thorpe called on the United Kingdom to return the indigenous artifacts and remains that had been confiscated.
With additional reporting from AAP
