An Australian senator who heckled King Charles II in her country’s Parliament House says she did so because the king hadn’t responded to her letters demanding “land back” for indigenous people. Sen. Lidia Thorpe, an independent legislator from the state of Victoria and member of Australia’s aboriginal community, accused Charles of committing “genocide against our people” and said her personal outrage was justified because of the unanswered correspondence.
Thorpe waited until Charles had finished his speech before Canberra’s Great Hall where representatives and senators had gathered for the occasion. She then shouted, “You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” The Times reported.
“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. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty,” she continued, apparently also shouting “Fu** the colony.” Dignitaries and politicians were present at the reception that also featured a speech from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Official Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Controversy had already stalked the event as six state premiers had refused to attend. Thorpe’s activism was well known to officials at Buckingham Place, The Times reported, but no effort was made to prevent Thorpe from attending.
Ironically, Thorpe injected herself into the proceedings right after Charles had lauded what he described as the “timeless wisdom of indigenous people”. Parliamentary security removed Thorpe from the building after her outburst.
Thorpe congratulated herself for pulling off the stunt and said, “I wouldn’t consider it heckling. I would say that it is truth telling … There was a violent invasion of this country over 200 years ago. Our people still are the poorest people in our own country, our land has been destroyed, we’ve had 24,000 children taken away from their families.”
“Your King, Charlie, needs to acknowledge that genocide occurred in this country and we want treaty. We want peace. We want the king to take a leadership role and tell his mates who are in government … to treaty with us.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla apparently didn’t even notice Thorpe or hear her words of protest and did not indicate any surprise or displeasure. Instead, Palace handlers said the pair were “unruffled” by the harangue and Charles later expressed his desire that the incident wouldn’t mar what had been a “wonderful day” up till then. The prime minister commented that he believed the senator’s display of ire was “disrespectful” and unseemly for an elected official. Albanese has also said he thinks internet memes of him are insulting and social media platforms should remove them.
