Australia senate censures member who yelled at King
Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe protested during Charles’ visit to Parliament House in Canberra.
Australian senators have voted to censure an Indigenous colleague who yelled at the King during a reception in Parliament House.
The censure of independent Senator Lidia Thorpe is a symbolic gesture that records her colleagues’ disapproval of her conduct during October’s first visit to Australia by a British monarch in 13 years.
The motion was carried 46 votes to 12.
Government leader in the Senate Penny Wong said Ms Thorpe’s outburst sought to “incite outrage and grievance.”
Ms Thorpe launched the rant at Charles following his speech during his visit to Canberra.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” she yelled as she was led by security guards from the reception.
“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.”
“If the colonising king were to come to my country again, our country, then I’ll do it again,” she told reporters.
“And I will keep doing it. I will resist colonisation in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands; First Peoples are the real sovereigns. You don’t have some random king rock up and say he’s sovereign.”
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, a member of the minor Greens party, opposed the censure motion.
“The bubble of white privilege that encapsulates this parliament is a systemic issue,” she said.
The vote took place before Ms Thorpe arrived on a flight from Melbourne. She said she had wanted to be in Parliament for the vote but government senators refused to wait.
Indigenous people account for fewer than 4% of Australia’s population and are the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic group.
