An Indigenous senator told that Australia is not his land as the British royal visited Australia91Ƶs parliament on Monday.
Sen. was escorted out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones.
91ƵYou committed genocide against our people,91Ƶ she shouted. 91ƵGive us what you stole from us 91Ƶ our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty.91Ƶ
No treaty was ever struck betweenBritish colonizers and Australia91Ƶs Indigenous peoples.
Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while security officials stopped Thorpe from approaching.
91ƵThis is not your land. You are not my king,91Ƶ Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the hall.
Thorpe is renowned for high-profile protest action. When she was affirmed as a senator in 2022, she wasn91Ƶt allowed to describe the then-monarch as 91Ƶthe colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.91Ƶ She briefly blocked a police float in Sydney91Ƶs Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by lying on the street in front of it. Last year, she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her abusing male patrons.
Albanese, who wants the country to with an Australian head of state, made an oblique reference to the issue in his speech welcoming the monarch.
91ƵYou 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,91Ƶ Albanese said. But, he said, 91Ƶnothing stands still.91Ƶ
Opposition leader who wants to keep the British king as Australia91Ƶs monarch, said that many supporters of a republic were honored to attend a reception for the Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital Canberra.
91ƵPeople have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been pressed and that91Ƶs just the republicans,91Ƶ Dutton quipped.
But Australia91Ƶs six state government signaled their support for an Australian head of state by declining invitations to the reception. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the royals had been snubbed.
Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen.
91ƵLet me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning91Ƶs moving Welcome to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years,91Ƶ Charles said.
91ƵThroughout my life, Australia91Ƶs First Nations peoples have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,91Ƶ Charles added.
Australians decided in a to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.
Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if his center-left Labor Party is re-elected at elections due by May next year.
Charles was drawn into Australia91Ƶs republic debate months before his visit.
The , which wants Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king91Ƶs meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.
91ƵWhether Australia becomes a republic is 91Ƶ a matter for the Australian public to decide,91Ƶ the Buckingham Palace letter said.
Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla laid wreaths at the Australian War Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit.
The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple.
Charles, 75, is being , which has led to a scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles91Ƶ 17th trip to Australia and the first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the distant nation in 2011.
Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late 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 hundreds of people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags. The temperature was forecast to reach a mild high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit).
On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.