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.”
Later on Monday, Thorpe told Sky News that she did not interrupt the king’s speech but “respectfully waited till the end.”
“There’s thousands of massacre sites in this country from invasion and someone needs to answer for that,” Thorpe said. “If he is the successor, then he needs to answer.”
Australia was under British colonial rule for over a century. By some estimates, British colonists carried out more than 400 massacres against Australia’s Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, killing thousands. The country’s Aboriginal population continues to struggle with racism and discrimination today.
Reconciliation is difficult. In a landmark referendum last year, all six states in Australia voted against recognizing Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establishing a body to advise Parliament on Indigenous matters.
Australia became a fully independent country in 1986 but remains a constitutional monarchy in which the British monarch serves as the head of state, a role that is largely symbolic.
In a 1999 referendum, a majority of Australians voted against transitioning to a republic. Charles has said it is up to Australians whether they want to break ties with the monarchy.
Though the debate has been revived following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, the nation is still ambivalent about becoming a republic. According to a YouGov poll published last year, about one-third of Australians want the country to transition to a republic as soon as possible, while 35% would prefer to remain a constitutional monarchy and the rest are undecided.
Thorpe, the first Aboriginal female senator from Victoria, is known for her strong opposition to the monarchy. When she was sworn into office in 2022, Thorpe was asked to take the oath again after she referred to the reigning British monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Albanese is a lifelong republican, but his government said in January that holding another referendum on the subject was “not a priority” and that there was “no timeline” for it.
Albanese hinted at the republican cause in his remarks before the king spoke.
“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,” he said. “Nothing stands still.”
Earlier on Monday, a traditional Aboriginal welcoming ceremony was held for the royal couple outside Parliament House.
Charles referenced the ceremony at the start of his 10-minute speech, saying he “deeply” appreciated the gesture, which offered him a chance to pay respects to “the traditional owners of the land on which we meet.”
The king, who spent six months living in Australia as a teenager, acknowledged Australia’s First Nations people, who inhabited the land long before the arrival of British settlers more than 230 years ago.
“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations people have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures,” Charles said. “I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”
The king arrived in Australia last Friday. Before his address to lawmakers on Monday, he was greeted by more than a thousand well-wishers along with some protesters during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
On Wednesday, the king will travel to the Pacific island nation of Samoa, where he will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Hannah Peart contributed.
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