Canberra, Australia — A tribal senator said King Charles III As the British royal family visited Australia’s parliament on Monday, Australia was not their home country.
Sen. Lydia Thorpe He was kicked out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonialists had encroached on native land and bones.
“You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted. “Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our children, our people. You’ve destroyed our land, give us a deal, we want a deal.”
No treaty was reached between the British colonists and the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Charles spoke quietly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as security officers stopped him from approaching Thorpe.
“This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe shouted as she was led from the hall.
Thorpe is known for high-profile protest action. When he was confirmed as a senator in 2022, he was not allowed to describe the then monarch as “the colonizer of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”. Last year Sydney’s gay and lesbian Madry Cross briefly blocked a police float lying on the street in front of it. Last year, he was banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after a video emerged of him abusing male patrons.
Albanians who love the country Become a republic Along with an Australian head of state, he made an oblique reference to the issue in his speech welcoming the monarch.
“You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Albanese said. But, he said, “nothing stands still.”
Leader of Opposition Peter Dutton, The British monarch, who wants to keep Australia’s monarch, said many supporters of the republic were honored to attend a reception for Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital, Canberra.
“People get haircuts, people shine shoes, suits are pressed, it’s Republicans,” Dutton quipped.
But Australia’s six state governments signaled their support for the Australian head of state by declining an invitation to the reception. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but the monarchists acknowledged leaving the royal family behind.
Charles used the opening of his speech to thank Canberra Aboriginal Elder Aunty Violet Sheridan for the traditional welcome to the King and Queen.
“Let me say how deeply I appreciate the moving Welcome to Country ceremony this morning, which will give me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands we meet, the Nungunawal people and all the beloved First Nations people. “He has looked after this continent for 65,000 years,” Charles said.
“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations people have given me great respect for their generosity in sharing their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” added Charles.
The Australians decided Poll in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II As the head of state. That decision is widely seen as the result of disagreement over how a president should be elected rather than majority support for a monarch.
Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the matter during his current three-year term. But it is possible if his centre-left Labor Party is re-elected in an election by May next year.
Charles had been drawn into Australia’s republican debate in the months before his arrival.
The Australian Republic MovementAustralia wants to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, requesting a meeting with Charles in Australia in December last year and the king pleading their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote in March that the royal appointments would be decided by the Australian government. A meeting with ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.
“Whether Australia becomes a republic … is a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the Buckingham Palace letter said.
Earlier on Monday, Charles and Camilla laid a wreath at the Australian War Memorial.
An estimated 4,000 people came to see the couple at the memorial.
Charles is 75 years old Treatment of cancerThis led to a shortened itinerary. This will be Charles’ 17th visit to Australia and the first since he becomes king in 2022. It will be the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the remote country in 2011.
Charles and Camilla rested the day after their late arrival on Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then traveled to Canberra, where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House.
Before leaving the war memorial, they waved Australian flags and greeted hundreds of people gathered under clear skies. Temperatures are forecast to reach a moderate high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit).
On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference.
