Lidia Thorpe: Who is the Indigenous Australian MP who shouted at King Charles?
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Australian senator Lidia Thorpe has captured international attention by criticizing King Charles following his speech at the Parliament House reception.
During a passionate address, 51-year-old Lidia Thorpe charged the British monarchy with committing genocide and emphatically declared to Charles, "You are not my King," as he made his way back to his seat after speaking in Canberra.
"Return our land to us. Return what you took from us – our ancestors, our children, our community," she said to the king before security took her away. "You have ravaged our land. We demand a treaty. We seek a treaty in this nation. You are responsible for genocide. This land does not belong to you."
Ms. Thorpe, an Indigenous woman from Victoria, has been a strong supporter of creating a treaty that acknowledges the rights of Aboriginal Australians and addresses past injustices with non-Aboriginal Australians.
After the protest, the rest of the day's events for the monarch's second day of activities went ahead as scheduled, with no mention of Ms. Thorpe's demonstration.
Ms. Thorpe later spoke to the BBC, expressing her desire to send a strong message to Charles, who is the first king of Australia and is currently on a six-day visit to the country.
“To truly be sovereign, one must belong to the land,” she explained. “He does not belong here.”
Ms. Thorpe, a mother and grandmother of Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung heritage, is a prominent advocate for Indigenous issues. Recently, her activities have been characterized as her most notable protest so far.
In 2017, she made history by becoming the first Indigenous woman elected to the Victorian state parliament as a member of the Green Party. Although she lost her seat in 2018, she was chosen to run for a Senate position with the party in the federal government in 2020.
When she took her oath in parliament in 2020, she raised her hand in a gesture of black power. At that moment, she was dressed in a traditional possum-skin cloak and held an Aboriginal message stick.
The stick was etched with 441 symbols to commemorate the Aboriginal individuals who are known to have lost their lives after the 1991 royal commission investigated deaths in custody.
Ms. Thorpe had earlier shared with Nine newspapers, "I didn't choose to be shaped by black activists and the fight for my community... It’s something I was born into, and it's all I've ever known."
In 2022, after being re-elected, she voiced her objections once more, referring to the late Queen Elizabeth II as "the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II" during her oath. Ms. Thorpe was subsequently required to take her oath again, this time using the proper wording.
In 2023, the politician chose to become an independent in order to support and promote the black sovereignty movement. This decision came after conflicts within the Greens party regarding the suggested Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which aimed to ensure that Indigenous perspectives were represented in legislative discussions.
Ms. Thorpe, who dedicated years to advocating for Indigenous issues prior to her entry into politics, made headlines again in April 2023 when a video surfaced showing her involved in an incident outside a strip club in Melbourne.
She was observed having disputes with men whom she says instigated the confrontation. On the other hand, the manager of the strip club stated that she sparked the argument by alleging that the men had taken her property.
Ms. Thorpe advocates for various issues affecting Indigenous Australians, such as changes to the prison and justice systems, environmental concerns, and the rights to land.
In a statement issued before King Charles's visit on Friday, Ms. Thorpe referred to the British king as "not the rightful ruler of these lands" and claimed that the monarchy had "perpetrated genocide against our people."
"We have some unresolved issues that must be addressed before our nation can officially become a republic. This needs to be accomplished through a treaty," Thorpe stated.
"We can start heading toward a Treaty Republic at this point. The two processes work together rather than being in conflict."
The question of whether Australia should maintain its ties to the British monarchy was last voted on in a referendum in 1999. At that time, 55 percent of Australians decided to retain the monarchy.
