Originally published on 10/21/24

On his first Australian visit in 13 years, King Charles faced backlash from an outspoken senator who accused the monarch of not being her country’s king. Keep scrolling to read her shocking speech, the motivation behind her heckling and what it means for the future of Australia and the Commonwealth. 

Why an Australian senator protested King Charles’ visit

While on a trip to Australia to address the country’s lawmakers with his wife, Queen Camilla, King Charles was accosted by Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe. 

“You are not our king. You are not our sovereign. You committed genocide against our people,” Thorpe said during his visit to the Parliament House floor. “Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people! You destroyed our land!” 

The senator was then escorted outside by security, but she continued to shout her message to anyone who would hear it. 

“We’ll continue to resist the colony until we have a peacemaking treaty where we can celebrate this country together,” Thorpe told reporters outside. “We don’t need a king from another country to dictate to us what we do here.”

The King’s trip to Australia marked the first time in 13 years that a reigning British monarch had visited the country. It was also the first time King Charles had traveled internationally since his cancer diagnosis. 

None of that mattered to Thorpe, though, who continued: “There are thousands of massacre sites in this country from invasion, and someone needs to answer for that. If he is the successor, then he needs to answer.”

She also emphasized that she did not interrupt King Charles’s speech and instead “respectfully waited till the end.”

King Charles did not respond to Thorpe’s comments, instead opting to remain silent.. 

Australia’s strained relationship with the British monarchy

Like much of the world, Australia was once a British Colony from 1788 to 1901. During that time, British colonists have been accused of killing thousands of members of Australia’s Torres Strait Islander—or Aboriginal—people. 

Today, the Aboriginal people still stand and are often very vocal about being the earliest known settlers in Australia. In 2021, they made up 3.8% of Australia’s total population, a 23.2 percent  increase from 2016. 

Thorpe herself is Aboriginal and often speaks out about the discrimination and racism her people face.

In October 2023, all six of Australia’s states voted against a referendum that would recognize First Nations Aboriginal people and create an advisory body for them in the government. Meanwhile, very few Indigenous Australians have seats in the government. 

After becoming an independent country in 1986, Australia remained a constitutional monarchy, meaning the British Monarch would always serve as the country’s head of state. 

Currently, that person is King Charles III, who took time to comment on the country’s traditions during his recent visit. 

“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations people have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” the king said while addressing the Parliament. 

Despite remarks like that, though, people like Thorpe still oppose the idea of Britain being involved in their political decisions. Instead, they want Australia to become its own independent republic, meaning they would fully cut ties with the British government. 

It remains unclear if or when that will happen. 

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/royals/senator-heckles-king-charles-amid-rising-royal-tensions