‘Not my king’: King Charles heckled by indigenous senator in Australia
King Charles III was heckled in Australia on Monday by an Indigenous senator who shouted “you’re not my king” as the British monarch spoke to lawmakers.
King Charles III was heckled in Australia on Monday by an Indigenous senator who shouted “you’re not my king” as the British monarch finished a speech at Parliament House.
The king, who is the first reigning British monarch to visit Australia in 13 years, was addressing lawmakers and other dignitaries in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital. His five-day visit along with Queen Camilla, his first to an overseas realm as monarch and his first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis, comes as the Commonwealth country debates severing ties with the British monarchy.
“You are not our king. You are not our sovereign. You committed genocide against our people,” Lidia Thorpe, an independent senator from the southeastern state of Victoria, shouted at Charles, who appeared not to respond but spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people! You destroyed our land!” Thorpe, who wore traditional clothing, continued to shout as security officers escorted her outside.
Speaking outside Parliament House, Thorpe told reporters, “We’ll continue to resist the colony until we have a peacemaking treaty where we can celebrate this country together. We don’t need a king from another country to dictate to us what we do here.”
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