Lidia Thorpe: Who is the Indigenous Australian MP who shouted at King Charles?
Subscribe For Free Morning News Headlines
Subscribe To Our Free Morning Headlines Email
Australian senator Lidia Thorpe has gained international attention for criticizing King Charles after his speech during the reception at Parliament House.
Lidia Thorpe, 51, launched a passionate speech in which she accused the British monarchy of committing acts of genocide. As King Charles was leaving the lectern to take his seat in Canberra, she proclaimed, “You’re not my King.”
"Return our land to us. Return what you have taken – our remains, our ancestors, our children, our community," she asserted to the king before security took her away. "You have devastated our territory. 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 establishing a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Her goal is to acknowledge Indigenous peoples' rights and address past injustices.
After the protest, the rest of the activities on the monarch's second day of official engagements went ahead as scheduled, and there was no mention of Ms. Thorpe's demonstration.
Ms. Thorpe later shared with the BBC that she aimed to convey “a strong message” to Charles, who is Australia’s first king and is currently on a six-day visit to the nation.
“To truly have sovereignty, you must be connected to the land,” she remarked. “He doesn’t belong to this land.”
Ms. Thorpe, a mother and grandmother of Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung heritage, is a prominent advocate for Indigenous rights. Recently, her latest efforts have been characterized as her most visible protest so far.
In 2017, she made history as the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the Victorian state parliament as a member of the Green Party. Although she lost her seat in 2018, she was nominated to become a senator for the party in the federal government in 2020.
When she took her oath in parliament in 2020, she lifted her hand in a gesture of black power. She wore a traditional cloak made of possum skin and held an Aboriginal message stick while doing so.
The stick had 441 marks on it, symbolizing the lives of Aboriginal people who are known to have passed away after the 1991 royal commission investigated deaths in custody.
Ms. Thorpe mentioned to Nine newspapers, "I didn't choose to be affected by black activists or the fight for my people's rights. It’s something I was born into, and it’s all I’ve ever known."
In 2022, she voiced her objections once more during her re-election, referring to the late Queen Elizabeth II as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” when taking her oath. Subsequently, Ms. Thorpe was required to repeat her oath with the appropriate phrasing.
In 2023, the politician decided to become an independent in order to support and promote the black sovereignty movement more effectively. This change came after conflicts arose within the Greens party concerning the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an initiative aimed at ensuring Indigenous people had a voice in government.
Ms. Thorpe, who dedicated many years to advocating for Indigenous issues before starting her political journey, made headlines again in April 2023 when footage surfaced of her involved in an incident outside a strip club in Melbourne.
She was seen getting into disputes with men she said were instigating her. However, 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 on behalf of Indigenous Australians, such as changing the prison and justice systems, addressing environmental concerns, and securing land rights.
In a statement issued before King Charles's visit on Friday, Ms. Thorpe referred to the British king as "not the rightful ruler of this territory" and claimed that the monarchy had "carried out a genocide against our people."
"We have some important issues to address before our nation can officially become a republic, and this needs to be done through a treaty," Thorpe stated.
"We have the opportunity to advance towards a Treaty Republic at this point. The two approaches work together rather than against each other."
The question of whether Australia should keep the British monarchy was last voted on in a referendum in 1999, where 55 percent of Australians opted to maintain the monarchy.
