The King’s speech in the Australian parliament was disrupted by shouts of “genocide”, as a senator used the royal visit to protest.
Lidia Thorpe also shouted “f--- the colonies” before she was escorted from the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra.
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, Ms Thorpe, 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.”
HotelPuzzleheaded654 on October 21st, 2024 at 07:38 UTC »
I’m not sure what this stunt achieves, didn’t Charles say the other day that it’s for Australians to decide whether they want the monarchy?
Not sure that makes this senator and Aussies the downtrodden and oppressed people she wants to project.
tresslessone on October 21st, 2024 at 07:36 UTC »
Besides the obvious fact that Charles did nothing of the sort, I really dislike how easily everyone tosses around the word genocide these days. It minimises actual genocide.
ortaiagon on October 21st, 2024 at 07:09 UTC »
She's the Dianne Abbot of Australia. A bit of an embarrassment.
King Charles already said he wouldn't stand in the way. It's up to Australia. If you can't sit there and listen / take part in whatever is going on maybe you should not be in parliament.
Besides, the Govt of the UK had way more to do with creating the Australian state than the monarchy back then.