Lidia Thorpe was escorted from the Great Hall at Parliament House earlier today after the independent senator interrupted the reception of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was welcoming the monarchs on the second day of their royal tour in Australia, before Senator Thorpe erupted in protest.
“You are not our king, you are not our sovereign,” the Victorian Senator shouted.
“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… this is not your land. This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king.”
Senator Thorpe was swiftly escorted out of the Great Hall before the proceedings continued.
According to reports, Senator Thorpe also had her back turned as the British national anthem God Save the King was played.
Senator Thorpe has always staunchly opposed the influence of the monarchy in Australia. When she was sworn into the Senate in 2022 – representing the Greens at the time – she entered the chamber with her fist in the air, before altering the words she was required to recite to call the late Queen Elizabeth II a coloniser.
“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,” Thorpe said at the time.
Sue Lines, the Labor Senate President, warned Senator Thorpe she was “required to recite the oath as printed on the card” and she would not become a senator “if you don’t do it properly”.
During his speech at the Great Hall today, King Charles III paid tribute to Australia’s first peoples.
“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations people have done me the great honour of sharing so generously their stories and cultures,” the monarch said.
“I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”
King Charles and Camilla are into their second day of their tour in Australia. Hundreds of people have gathered in Sydney and Canberra over the last two days to welcome Charles and Camilla, holding signs, flags and presenting the royals with gifts. Meanwhile, many Indigenous activists like Senator Thorpe have opposed the tour.
Following the reception at Parliament House, Queen Camilla met with key domestic violence advocates in Canberra, including Rosie Batty, Jess Hill, Tanya Hosch and others. Much of Camilla’s work in the UK centres on domestic violence advocacy.
However, National Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services Forum CEO Kerry Staines was disappointed her organisation – the “only First Nations people body specialising in family violence” – did not receive an invitation to meet with the Queen.
“I’m not sure who has attended or what the conversations have been,” she told ABC News earlier today, “but we would have liked First Nations representatives to be able to talk about the national crisis unfolding.”