Lidia Thorpe protested against King Charles’ visit to Australia. (Image: Getty)
King Charles was recently heckled by Indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe, who shouted “this is not your land” and “you are not my King”.
The king and Queen Camilla were visiting Australia’s Parliament House as part of a five-day visit to the country when Thorpe got as close as she could to the stage where they were sat alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other officials.
She yelled: “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, we want a treaty, we want a treaty with this country. This is not your land, this is not your land. You are not my King, you are not our King.”
After about a minute, she was forced back into the foyer, where she could be heard shouting “f*** the colonies”. Most people remained silet during the outburst, while the King spoke to Albanese and the queen to his partner, Jodie Haydon.
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Who is Lidia Thorpe?
Thorpe is an Aboriginal Australian independent politician, representing Victoria as a Senator since 2020 – the first Aboriginal Senator from the state.
Up until February 2023, she was a member of the Australian Greens, serving as the party’s Deputy Leader in the Senate from June to October 2022.
However, she quit after disagreements on the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament to create an Australian federal advisory body made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to better represent Indigenous communities.
Thorpe then spearheaded the “progressive No” campaign before the referendum in October 2023, which resulted in the proposal being rejected as 60 percent of people voted against it.
In 2017, she became the first known Aboriginal woman elected to the state of Northcote’s parliament, where she served as a member for the division of Northcote in the Legislative Assembly until 2018.
Lidia Thorpe shouted ‘this is not your land’ at King Charles. (Image: Getty)
Lidia Thorpe’s past protests
Thorpe is known for her criticisms of Australian political institutions, which she sees as being borne out of colonialism.
She had to be removed from the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in 2023 after laying down in front of a float to protest against the police presence at the event.
The same year she was also seen being tackled to the ground by a police officer during a demonstration against an anti-transgender rights rally outside Parliament House.
The investigation into the incident by Australian Anttorney General Mark Dreyfus is still ongoing, but Thorpe has claimed she was assaulted.
Why are Australians protesting the monarchy?
Support for the Royal Family in Australia has eroded over the years as the population questions their relevance, since they do not have any say in the country’s governance.
The constitutional monarchy system means King Charles is Australia’s head of state, but he has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the country, leaving people wondering why the system can’t be overhauled.
In 1999, Australia had a referendum on whether or not it should become a republic, not ruled by a monarchy.
At the time, it was thought about two-thirds of the population would have supported the move, but not being able to agree upon a system to replace the royals ultimately meant the referendum was defeated.
Support for the monarchy in Australia has been on the decline since the ’90s. (Image: Getty)
Since then, support for the monarchy has declined. A recent poll by Pure Profile revealed only 40 percent of Australians want to keep King Charles as head of state instead of choosing an Australian.
Co-Chair of the Australian Republic Movement, Nova Peris, said: “Australians are now well and truly ready to embrace a more equal future where all Australians are treated equally under our Constitution.
“Monarchy is all about entrenched privilege, about rule by kings and queens over and above the Australian people. It has no place in a democracy or a nation that prides itself on equality, on multiculturalism or equal opportunity for all its people.”
What do republican protestors want?
The idea of replacing the monarchy and embracing republicanism failed in the ’90s because Australians could not decide on a suitable new system.
Some people and groups, such as the Australian Republic Movement, want an Australian head of state to replace King Charles in order to better represent the Australian people.
The group says: “An Australian Head Of State provides our chance to bring the different strands of our history together in a shared vision for an Australia, which truly represents who we are today.
“Our Head Of State should work for us full-time and be fully committed. They should be elected on merit, have the skills to do the job, be one of us, accountable to us and unwaveringly loyal to us.”
Graham Smith, CEO of campaign group Republic, also said that while he’s “not here to campaign for an Australian republic”, he does have a “simple” message he wants to spread.
He wrote in The Guardian: “The monarchy isn’t good for anything or anyone, it is not dignified and deserves condemnation, not respect, and the UK is far from the nation of royalists you see portrayed by parts of the media.”
