Lidia Thorpe reveals what she was REALLY planning to do to His Majesty at his royal welcome to Australia
An Australian senator who targeted King Charles in a dramatic outburst during his visit to the country has said intended to hand him a notice of complicity requesting he be charged for genocide.
An Australian senator who targeted King Charles in a dramatic outburst during his visit to the country has said intended to hand him a notice of complicity requesting he be charged for genocide.
Lidia Thorpe, who serves as an independent and is a well known Indigenous activist, screamed f*** the colony and you are not my king as Charles visited Parliament House in Canberra today.
The 51-year-old, who has a history of making anti-monarchist statements and stunts having once called Queen Elizabeth II a coloniser, was hauled out of the room by security after she heckled His Majesty.
But she wasnt done and after the stunt, which has been harshly criticised from all corners of Australias political parties, she then went on to post a cartoon image on social media which showed Charles beheaded.
Since then Thorpe, who was forced to quit her role as deputy leader of the Australian Greens party after failing to disclose she was in a relationship with a former biker gang boss, has revealed what she really hoped to achieve with her outburst.
Lidia Thorpe, an Australian senator, heckled King Charles during His Majestys visit to Canberra on Monday. Pictured: Thorpe is seen shouting in the direction of the King
Charles did not appear shocked or embarrassed by the outburst. Pictured: His Majesty views the Royal Guard of Honour on his arrival to Parliament House in Canberra
Thorpe has a history of making anti-monarchist statements and stunts. Pictured: Thorpe in the Senate chamber on October 9
Speaking after she was ejected from the chamber, Thorpe said she intended to hand Charles a notice of complicity in the Genocide of the First Peoples of this county.
However, she was stopped from doing so by security, who prevented her from getting close to His Majesty.
She said: Krauatungalung Elder, Uncle Robbie Thorpe, issued this notice to the International Criminal Court on October 13 this year, requesting King Charles be charged and prosecuted for genocide.
The visit by the so-called King should be an occasion of Truth-telling about the true history of this country.
The colonial state has been built on the continuing Genocide on First Peoples.
Today I was silenced and removed from the parliamentary reception when pointing out that the Crown stole from First Peoples.
The truth is, this colony is built on stolen land, stolen wealth and stolen lives.
The British Crown committed heinous crimes against the First Peoples of this country. These crimes include war crimes, crimes against humanity and failure to prevent genocide. There has been no justice for these crimes. The Crown must be held accountable.
Senator Lidia Thorpe reposted a cartoon of the Kings head lying next to a crown, after it was created by Matt Chun, co-editor of anti-imperialist publication The Sunday Paper
Senator Lidia Thorpe, 51, launched a foul-mouthed tirade at the King during his visit to Parliament House
Her tirade came during King Charles IIIs first visit to Australia as monarch
She went on to accused the Australian Federal Police (AFP) of threatening to arrest her for wearing a t-shit that said Stolen Land, Stolen Lives, Stolen Wealth.
Thorpe, who claims to be a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung Indigenous woman, added: I was at a rally to call out the crimes committed by the Crown. This is a clear attack on free speech and expression, at the war memorial of all places.
Sovereign Elder Uncle Coco was arrested by AFP today for peacefully standing up against the Genocide on his people and all First Peoples of this continent.
This colonial government will punish our Elders for protesting against a Genocide but refuse to hold the perpetrators to account.
Today we call for justice, an end to this ongoing genocide, for Treaty and a republic. We want to be able to live in peace and finally come together as a nation.
The senator has a history of anti-monarchist remarks, having previously mocked Queen Elizabeth II during the oath of allegiance.
In 2022, the Greens Senator mockingly recited the parliamentary oath of allegiance while slamming the late Queen as a coloniser.
After raising her right fist, she begrudgingly swore to serve the 96-year-old monarch, who was Australias head of state, as King Charles is now.
Ms Thorpe sarcastically recited the oath of allegiance as she continued holding her fist in the air.
King Charles, Queen Camilla and Australias Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses partner Jodie Jaydon attend the parliamentary reception in Canberra, Australia
Lidia Thorpe once strode into the Senate with her fist in the air and then mockingly called the late Queen a coloniser
Lidia Thorpe (pictured) previously fired up about paying respects to the late Queen saying the British Empire declared war on First Nations people
I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, the outspoken politician said in a mocking tone.
Her conduct received support from Greens Leader Adam Bandt, who tweeted: Always was. Always will be.
Senator Thorpe was reprimanded and, smirking, eventually recited the oath correctly and was sworn into parliament.
King Charles and Queen Camilla have faced low-key protests during their tour of Australia, from supporters of First Nations resistance to colonisation, who have been displaying a banner with the word decolonise at a number of events.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Senator Thorpes outburst, but sources brushed off the lone protestor, saying Their Majesties were deeply touched at the warmth of the welcome they had received throughout the day.
The King and Queen, who were still seated on the stage during the confrontation, appeared to take no notice as the King turned to speak to the prime minister and Camilla turned towards his wife.
They were seen laughing off the politicians heckling and were said to be unruffled by the tirade which they hoped would not overshadow what had been an otherwise wonderful day.
But the outburst from an elected representative will be viewed as an embarrassment, during Charless first visit to Australia as King – although others labelled Senator Thorpe a one-off idiot who was being disrespectful and rude.
Aunty Violet Sheridan, a Senior Ngunnawal Elder, spoke of her fury at the outburst, describing it as disrespectful and rude.
She explained that she had been asked by the Australian Prime Minister and Cabinet Office to give the official Welcome to Country at Parliament for the King and Queen and had been honoured to do.
She was sitting on the stage with them when Senator Thorpe staged her intervention and said: It was fabulous right up until that incident. I thought she was disrespectful and out of line. She does not speak for me or my family.
I did the official welcome to country in the Great Hall. I was asked by the Prime Minister and Cabinet to come along as I am a senior elder in the Ngunnawal community. These are our ancestral lands. This is my mothers country.
Senator Thorpe was quickly led away by security at Parliament House
Other politicians watched on as the activist was removed
I was on the stage sitting just beyond the Prime Minister and it absolutely frightened the life out of me. I didnt expect it and I am sure no-one else was expecting it. Someone later told me she did the same at the war memorial earlier.
He is a guest of ours and she is a senator, for goodness sake. It was out of place. She hasnt done it for a little while and I am very disappointed she to chose to do it [again], then. If she did it at the war memorial then why repeat that act again. Shes already the point.
We are all so disappointed by it. To have that in the Great Hall? Disgusting. I am so upset about her. He has waited so long to be King, he has rehearsed for it all his life. He is our King, our sovereign and he has got cancer.
I said to my husband I feel so sad for him. I was sitting tight by him. I am a very spiritual person and I feel really comfortable about him. I just felt it. He is a good man. He thanked me for my welcome. This is sad. He has got cancer and that idiot, I am sorry to say that word, went and did that.
I felt so sad that he has travelled all this way. I am a big supporter of reconciliation and the healing process. We need to work this out. I dont want my grandchildren when Prince George becomes King and comes here and that happens to him. I hope we fix this up before our next generation comes through. Hopefully people see it for what it is. A one-off idiot.
Nova Peris, a former athlete who became the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the Australian Parliament, said she was deeply disappointed by Thorpes actions.
She said: Her outburst, which disrupted what should have been a respectful event, was both embarrassing and disrespectful to our nation and the Royal Family.
Peris, who herself has called for the country to become a republic in the past, slammed the rude interruption made by Thorpe, adding they do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large.
Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as they sat on the podium while security officials stopped Senator Thorpe from approaching any further and escorted her out of the Great Hall.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who attended the event, expressed his dismay at the protest. Its unfortunate political exhibitionism, thats all Id say, he said.
Another of the guests, Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne, was highly critical of Thorpe for disrupting the reception. I was absolutely amazed that she got through the door, he said. That was uncalled for and un-Australian.
Mr Payne, who was awarded the highest military honour for his service in Vietnam, was one of the guests who spoke with the King as the royal couple left the reception.
Before her outburst, Senator Thorpe had turned her back as the Australian anthem was played
Lidia Thorpe (pictured) attempted to storm the podium during British trans critic Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshulls speech for the Let Women Speak rally outside parliament house in March
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive for a visit at Canberra Airport on October 21, 2024 in Canberra, Australia
Thorpe was a guest at the event as an elected Victorian Senator.
Before the outburst, Thorpe had turned her back as the Australian anthem was played.
Earlier in the day, Thorpe appeared close to being arrested while protesting the visit of the King and Queen Camilla to Canberra.
A confrontation with police took place at an Indigenous protest outside the Australian War Memorial.
A group of some two dozen Indigenous protesters positioned themselves outside the Memorial, chanting always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
The group was well away from where the King and Queen appeared.
Senator Thorpe was seen arguing with a police officer who held onto her shirt. She then pulled her shirt off and stormed away from the cop.
Everything that we suffer in this country is because of that colonial invasion, Senator Thorpe said after the tussle.
The reception in the Australian Parliament had started with a welcome procession, as a didgeridoo announced Their Majesties arrival into the Great Hall at Parliament House.
They received a formal Welcome to Ngunnawal Country by senior Ngunnawal Elder Aunty Violet Sheridan.
After speeches from the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and leader of the opposition Peter Dutton, Charles spoke of his affection for Australia.
In an address which lasted a little over ten minutes, the King acknowledged the timeless wisdom of Indigenous people and spoke of his formative time at Geelong Grammar School, saying: I had thought that the school I had been attending in Scotland was remote and testing enough, but nothing had quite prepared me for the realities of the bush country.
The King said: I arrived as an adolescent and left as a more rounded – if not even somewhat chiselled – character once I had contended with brown snakes, leeches, funnel-web spiders and bull ants, and – bearing in mind this was very nearly 60 years ago – been given certain unmentionable parts of a bull calf to eat form a branding fire in outback Queensland.
Before the King spoke, the Prime Minister had given a warm address, describing the late Queen as a shining thread through the history of Australia.
They were welcomed by cheering crowds and schoolchildren waving Australian flags
The King and Queen were met with loud cheers from the hundreds of well-wishers, drowning out a handful of protestors with a decolonise banner calling for indigenous rights and waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags
King Charles III and Queen Camilla waves at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Monday, October 21
He greeted royal wellwishers and shook their hands at the event on Monday
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Thorpes outburst in Parliament House, but sources brushed off the lone protestor, saying Their Majesties were deeply touched at the warmth of the welcome they had received throughout the day
He then told Charles: Since your first visit in 1966, you have been taken into Australian hearts – just as you have taken us into yours. You have known the great natural beauty of this continent in all its challenge and all its reward. You have known the warmth, strength and humour of our people. And what has grown out of your appreciation of all of this is an affection that flows both ways.
Albanese recalled the Kings Australian educational experiences, ranging from your time at Timbertop to your time at the Countdown studio being interview by Molly Meldrum. Both, in their own ways, deeply formative experiences.
Afterwards, the King and Queen walked out into the foyer of the building to huge applause, including school children waving flags. Outside, they took part in a traditional royal walkabout, now called an opportunity to meet the public.
Sarah Rimmer, 34, and Nicholas Hicks, 29, now live in Australia but are originally from Southport, UK.
Hicks said: I said thank you for the King for going to Southport after the attack [in July] and he said that he was pleased he could go and that the people there were very resilient.
Jacqui Stewart, 52, from Brisbane, told the King that she had once had a gin and tonic with him during a parliamentary reception that her husband, who was serving in the military, had been invited to in the mid 1990s.
She said: He had a gin and tonic and it is a very nice memory so I reminded him when we met.
Before they left Canberra the couple visited The Australian Botanic Gardens on the lower slopes of the Black Mountain in Canberra, which boasts the worlds most comprehensive display of living Australian native plants and is the centre of Australian biodiversity research.
The Queen spoke to a selection of volunteers from the gardens, and to school children about the Banksia species, before having an opportunity to join the children in nature-based educational activities.
Its extraordinary, she exclaimed.
Asked how her trip was so far she said: Its been wonderful. Its very nice to be here in the gardens and the weather is perfect.
She and the King then made their way separately to the Rainforest Gully. Charles tripped slightly as he did not see a step leading down to a viewing platform.
That was not what I expected, he chuckled.
He was then joined by his wife for a photograph before they sweetly walked arm-in arm through the picturesque flora.
Before they left they planted another tree - the king adding the soil and the queen watering it.
