Here are some photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla on Monday in Canberra. They flew from Sydney to Canberra (Australia’s capital) as part of their Australia tour. One of the biggest events of the day was King Charles’s address to Australian Parliament. It was right after his speech when Senator Lidia Thorpe staged a one-woman protest of his visit and his address:
The King’s speech in the Australian Parliament was disrupted by shouts of “genocide” and “f— the colonies” as a senator used the Royal visit to protest. Senator Lidia Thorpe also shouted “f— the colonies” before she was escorted from the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra.
Speaking moments before, the King had delivered a speech in which he particularly addressed the First Nations people and their “traditional wisdom”, thanking them for their welcome ceremony and paying his respects to the “traditional owners of the lands on which we meet”. After the speech, which also touched on the King and Elizabeth II’s memories of visits to Australia and topics including climate change, Senator Thrope, who is well known for her protests, 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 – 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. F— the colonies.”
She was escorted from the hall by security as she continued to berate the King. He was said afterwards to have been “unruffled” by the interruption and determined not let it overshadow an otherwise “wonderful day”.
Ms Thorpe, 51, is an independent senator. In 2022, she was compelled to repeat the oath of allegiance for Australian parliamentarians after initially describing the late Queen as a “coloniser”.
Thorpe’s 2022 protest of the oath got international coverage – she’s long been on the radar of republicans and monarchists, and I felt sorry for her that they basically forced her to pledge her allegiance to QEII to undertake her role in the Australian Senate. It was asinine, and it underlined the need for Australia to dump the monarchy. I’m glad she got the chance to protest King Charles in person. There’s lots of footage of Thorpe’s protest and I find it very moving. I’m actually a little bit emotional about it – she’s an extremely brave woman.
King Charles protester Lidia Thorpe, a Victoria Senator interrupts the great hall after speech pic.twitter.com/d02hoKW1rh
— Kate Mansey (@KateMansey) October 21, 2024
Australian senator Ms Thorpe, who has aboriginal heritage, heckled King Charles.
“You are not our King, you are not Sovereign… you have committed genocide against our people.” pic.twitter.com/Z3LyAOUg2I
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) October 21, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.