An Independent Australian senator, Lidia Thorpe, allegedly accused King Charles III of committing crimes and genocide of Indigenous people, saying, "You're not my king." The Australian MP disrupted Charles's parliamentary reception on Monday, saying, "You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us - our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people."
A video of Lidia Thorpe went viral on social media as she can be seen yelling and hackling King Charles III in Parliament House before security takes her away.
Who is Lidia Thorpe?
Lidia Thorpe born in 1973 in Carlton, in the state of Victoria, 51-year-old belongs to the Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung peoples and has been a prominent figure in politics and advocacy for Aboriginal causes. About her education, she has completed Diploma in Community Development from Swinburne University of Technology and a graduate certificate in public sector management. Thorpe is known for her strong opposition to monarchy and advocacy for Indigenous rights.
Lidia Thorpe Heckled King Charles III in Australian Parliament
Political Career
Lidia Thorpe, won the Victorian Legislative Assembly from the Northcote seat in a 2017 by-poll. She got 45% vote share in primary votes. In 2018 December, she lost her seat to Labour candidate Kat Theophanous. However, in 2020, Victorian Greens members reelected Thorpe for the federal Senate seat, which fell vacant after the resignation of Richard Di Natale.
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Thorpe's election to the Senate also made her the first Aboriginal woman to represent Victoria in the Senate. She is also the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian from the Greens. After her re-election in May 2020, the Greens party room elected her as the party deputy leader in the Senate. She quit the Greens in February 2023 after the party threw its weight behind the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, a reform that Thorpe and some of her supporters did not approve.
Reason Lidia Thorpe Heckling King Charles III
Lidia Thorpe told BBC news that her goal was to send "a clear message" to Charles, stressing that "to be sovereign you have to be of the land. He is not of this land." Thorpe has long been critical of the British monarchy, calling King Charles "not the legitimate sovereign of these lands" and accusing the institution of committing genocide against Indigenous Australians.