Lidia Thorpe, the Australian senator who disrupted Charles III's visit to parliament last month, has been reprimanded. The Senate described her behavior as “disrespectful and destructive.” He also supported preventing a politician from representing the chamber in any official delegation. Thorpe said she “will not remain silent.”
Senate Australia reprimanded Lydia Thorpe, an independent senator and Indigenous Australian representative, in October she shouted at Charles III that he was “not her king” and accused him of “genocide”. The chamber described the politician's behavior as “disrespectful and destructive” and expressed its “deep disapproval” of similar actions, reports the BBC.
Australian public broadcaster ABC adds that parliamentarians also voted to prevent the politician from representing the Senate in “any official delegation” until the end of the current term of the chamber. The station notes, however, that although the actions taken against Thorpe are symbolically important, they do not carry direct political consequences.
Lidia Thorpe: I would do it again
Lidia Thorpe herself stated during a conversation with reporters that the reprimand meant nothing to her and demonstratively tore up the card with information about it. The politician described the Senate's actions as an attempt to “distract attention from the real problems” of Australia and announced that she “will not remain silent.” The senator also admitted that she did not regret disrupting Charles III's visit. “If the colonizer king were to return to Australia, I would do it again,” Thorpe said, quoted by ABC.
Lydia Thorpe after Charles III's speech in the Australian ParliamentPAP/EPA/LUKAS COCH
She shouted at the monarch that “he is not her king”
Charles III's October visit to Australia was the first in 13 years. The king spent 5 days there. Although his visit inevitably led to a debate about the constitutional status of Australia and the possible replacement of the British monarch as head of state by an elected president, Charles III received a warm welcome on site. Thorpe's protest was one of a handful of incidents that occurred during the visit.
On October 21, the senator shouted at the monarch that he was “not her king” and accused him of “genocide”. – Give us back our land. Give us back what you stole from us (…) Give us the treaty (…) This is not your country – screamed Thorpe. A day later the king stayed hurled insults at him by Aboriginal activist Wayne Wharton. The man was arrested.
The power of Charles III in Australia
Australia remains one of 15 countries formally led by Charles III. Outside it and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Northern this group includes, among others: New Zealand, Canada or Jamaica. Although the British monarch's power is currently only symbolic, many politicians in Canberra are pushing for a formal separation from London.
Charles III during his visit to Australia PAP/EPA/BIANCA DE MARCHI
Members of the Australian First Nations recall that Australia is the only former British colony whose government has not concluded a special treaty with representatives of the indigenous people. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people emphasize that they have never relinquished their sovereignty or land to the Crown. However, public opinion polls show that for most citizens the issue of replacing the king with president is not the most urgent. They perceive topics such as the cost of living, the state of the economy and health care, and expansionary policy as more priority China.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/LUKAS COCH