‘You are not my master!’ Indigenous MP scolds King Charles during visit to Australia – nationally
An indigenous member of parliament told King Charles III that Australia is not his country as the British royal visited the Australian parliament on Monday.
Sen. Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of the royal couple’s reception in parliament after shouting that British colonialists had taken the land and bones of Aboriginal people.
“You killed our people,” he shouted. “Give us what you stole from us—our bones, our skulls, our children, our people. He has destroyed our world. Give us a deal. We want an agreement.”
No treaty was ever made between the British colonies and the Aboriginal people of Australia.
Charles spoke quietly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while security officials prevented Thorpe from approaching.
“This is not your world. You are not my master,” shouted Thorpe as he was led out of the hall.
Thorpe is famous for high-profile protest action. When he was confirmed as a member of parliament in 2022, he was not allowed to describe the then monarch as “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” He briefly blocked a police float at Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by sleeping on the road in front of it. Last year, he was also banned for life from a Melbourne club after a video of him abusing men emerged.
Albanese, who wants the country to be a republic and the head of state of Australia, made an indirect reference to this issue in his speech to welcome the king.
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“You have shown great respect for the Australian people, even at times when we are discussing the future of our constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Albanese said. But, he said, “nothing stands still.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants to keep Britain’s monarch as Australia’s monarch, said many supporters of the republic were honored to attend the reception for Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital Canberra.
“People have haircuts, people have shiny shoes, pressed suits and that’s just republicans,” said Dutton.
But Australia’s six-state government has shown its support for the Australian head of state by declining invitations to host the visitors. Each of them said they had a strained relationship on Monday, but the monarchs admitted the royal family had been abandoned.
Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Aunt Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen.
“I must also say that I deeply appreciated this morning’s Welcome to Country event, which gives me the opportunity to honor the indigenous owners of the countries we meet, the Ngunnawals, and all the people of the United Nations who have loved. and he took care of this continent for 65,000 years,” said Charles.
“Throughout my life, First Nations people in Australia have given me the great honor of sharing their stories and traditions freely. I can only say how much my personal experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” added Charles.
Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to keep Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely considered to be the result of a disagreement about how the president will be elected instead of supporting the king’s majority.
Albanese has withdrawn that he will not hold another referendum on this issue in his three-year term in government. But it is possible if his centre-left Labor Party is re-elected in the elections to be held in May next year.
Charles was drawn to the Australian republican debate a few months before his visit.
The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its constitutional relationship with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year asking for a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate for their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March that royal meetings would be decided by the Australian government. The 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 wreaths at the Australian War Memorial and shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit.
At this memorial, approximately 4,000 people came out to see the couple.
Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to the tour being cut short. Charles’ 17th trip to Australia and first since becoming king in 2022. It is the first visit of a British monarch to Australia since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II visited the distant country in 2011.
Charles and Camilla rested for the day after their arrival late on Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House.
Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet the hundreds of people who had gathered under clear skies waving Australian flags.
On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
