King Charles has been heckled by an Indigenous Australian senator, who called for a treaty and accused the crown of stealing Aboriginal land, as he concluded a speech at Parliament House in Canberra.
Charles, on a five-day visit to Australia with Queen Camilla, addressed MPs and senators in the Great Hall of Parliament House on Monday. It was a key moment of his inaugural visit to Australia as monarch.
As he finished the speech – which covered his time as a school student in Australia, the Covid pandemic and Australia’s vulnerability to the climate crisis – Lidia Thorpe, an independent senator from Victoria, approached the stage yelling “this is not your country”.
“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,” shouted Thorpe, who is a fiercely outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights.
“You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist.”
As security officers escorted her to the doors, she shouted: “This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king.”
As she left the hall and was forced back into the foyer, Thorpe, who was dressed in a long possum skin coat, could be heard shouting: “Fuck the colony.”
Charles had turned to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and talked quietly on the podium as security prevented Thorpe from approaching the monarch.
Earlier, as Thorpe waited among invited guests inside the Great Hall before the royal couple entered, the senator turned her back on a large video screen when it showed King Charles standing to attention outside during the official welcome and the playing of the national anthem.
Before the king’s speech, Albanese and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, welcomed Charles and Camilla to Parliament House, thanking them for standing with Australians in good times and bad.
Albanese called it one of the honours of his life to have led the Australian delegation attending the king’s coronation and praised the king’s engagement on issues including the climate crisis and reconciliation.
“You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times where we’ve debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the crown,” Albanese said. “Nothing stands still.”
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who was at the event, expressed his dismay at the protest, labelling it “unfortunate political exhibitionism”.
Abbott is an avowed royalist, who caused widespread national outrage in 2014 for reintroducing the knights and dames honours system to Australia and then awarding the title to Prince Philip.
Businessman Dick Smith, another guest at the reception, said the disruption was an illustration of Australian democracy.
“That’s the wonderful part of our democracy – that she’s not going to be put in jail,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, Thorpe released a statement arguing that Australia should become a republic and establish treaty with First Nations people as part of that process.
She said there was “unfinished business that we need to resolve before this country can become a republic”.
“As First Peoples, we never ceded our sovereignty over this land. The crown invaded this country, has not sought treaty with First Peoples, and committed a genocide of our people. King Charles is not the legitimate sovereign of these lands. Any move towards a republic must not continue this injustice. Treaty must play a central role in establishing an independent nation.”
Indigenous people have called for a treaty or treaties between Australia’s governments and First Nations peoples since early colonisation, with a renewed call in 2017’s Uluru Statement from the Heart which called for voice, treaty and truth telling.
The statement resulted from a lengthy series of consultations conducted by Indigenous people in their own communities across Australia and proposes the creation of a special commission to oversee the making of agreements. The statement declares that sovereignty “has never been ceded or extinguished, and coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown”.
There is ongoing debate about the effect of such treaties. Some state and territory governments have begun their own processes towards, treaties but the issue has not been formally progressed federally.
Charles and Camilla previously greeted members of the public at the Australian War Memorial, shaking hands and high-fiving children. Among them was Hephner the alpaca, resplendent in a gold crown, bow tie and blue velvet suit, who had the chance to meet Charles.
“We just thought, what an opportunity to dress him up as royalty and bring him today,” said Hephner’s owner, Robert Fletcher.
“I think this is probably the last opportunity that you’ll ever get to see them, certainly in my lifetime and probably my daughter’s lifetime as well,” said Fletcher.
ACT police said Thorpe was part of a protest group near the memorial earlier on Monday, that was directed to move on and complied.
Separately, a 62-year-old man was later arrested outside the memorial for breach of the peace but released without charge, police said. Several others were arrested at the memorial and also not charged.
A 21-year-old woman arrested at the memorial for allegedly failing to comply with police direction was charged and faced court on Monday afternoon.
