“Return Our Land”: Senator Confronts King Charles in Australian Parliament

Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe shouted anti-colonial slogans at King Charles during his visit to the Australian parliament on Monday, surprising lawmakers and other dignitaries in attendance.

“Give us our land back! Give us what you stole from us!” Thorpe shouted in a nearly minute-long outburst following the 75-year-old king’s speech.

“This is not your land; you are not my king,” the independent lawmaker declared, condemning what she referred to as a “genocide” of Indigenous Australians by European settlers.

“Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our lives. Give us a treaty, we need a treaty in this country. You are a gen0cidalist.”

As she was escorted from the chamber by security, she could be heard saying “F*** the colony”.

Former prime minister and staunch royalist Tony Abbott, who was also at the event, expressed his dismay at the protest, labelling it “unfortunate political exhibitionism”.

The senator, who declined to swear an oath to the Queen upon her election, was among approximately 20 people protesting the King’s arrival as he laid a wreath at a war memorial in Canberra earlier in the day.

She was among a number of indigenous voices to protest the King’s arrival in what has been dubbed a “farewell tour” by Australian Republicans.

Australia was a British colony for over 100 years, a period during which thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities were displaced.

The country achieved de facto independence in 1901 but has yet to become a fully-fledged republic, with King Charles serving as the current head of state.

Charles is on a nine-day tour of Australia and Samoa, marking his first significant foreign trip since his life-altering cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

Thorpe is recognized for her provocative political stunts and strong opposition to the monarchy.

When she was sworn into office in 2022, Thorpe raised her right fist as she reluctantly pledged to serve Queen Elizabeth II, who was then Australia’s head of state.

“I sovereign, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said before being rebuked by a Senate official.

“Senator Thorpe, Senator Thorpe, you are required to recite the oath as printed on the card,” said the chamber’s president, Sue Lines.

In 1999, Australians narrowly voted against removing the queen, amidst a debate over whether her successor would be chosen by members of parliament rather than the public.

In 2023, Australians decisively rejected proposals to recognize Indigenous Australians in the constitution and to establish an Indigenous consultative assembly.