“Give us back our lands, give us back what you stole from us. » King Charles III, visiting the Australian Parliament with Camilla, was questioned by Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe on the legacy of British colonization in the country. At the end of his speech in Canberra, the 75-year-old monarch was attacked by the parliamentarian, who shouted anti-colonial slogans. “You are not our king, give us back our lands,” she proclaimed.
The independent senator, wearing a fur cape, denounced what she called the genocide of indigenous Australians during the era of European colonization of Australia. “You committed genocide against our people. […] Give us back what you stole from us: our bones, our skulls, our people. You have destroyed our lands. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country,” she said.
According to footage broadcast by Sky News Australia, Lidia Thorpe pushed the sovereign for about a minute before being escorted out by security. During his diatribe, the king spoke, in a low voice, with the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, imperturbable.
Australia was a British colony for more than a century, during which thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities displaced. The country gained de facto independence in 1901, but never became a full republic. King Charles III remains head of state.
Fierce opposition to the monarchy
Lidia Thorpe is known for her political coups and her fierce opposition to the monarchy. When she took the oath of office in 2022, she raised her right fist as she reluctantly vowed to serve Queen Elizabeth II, Australia’s then head of state.
“I solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and that I will bear true allegiance to the colonizer Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she declared, before being reprimanded, recalls Agence France-Presse. “Senator Thorpe, you must recite the oath as it is printed,” House Speaker Sue Lines observed at the time.
Australia rejected by referendum in 1999 a change of the Constitution to become a republic. Currently, no reform in this direction is on the agenda. In 2023, Australians rejected in another referendum measures to recognize Indigenous Australians in the Constitution and create an Indigenous Consultative Assembly.
Charles III, accompanied by Queen Camilla, is making his first major foreign tour since the announcement of his cancer, with a nine-day visit to Australia and Samoa. He notably spoke this Monday in front of the Australian Parliament in Canberra, where he called for mobilization against climate change. The royal couple will continue their visit to Australia, in Sydney, on Tuesday.
