Lidia Thorpe, an Independent Australian senator, has accused King Charles of committing genocide of Indigenous people and shouted, "You're not my king." The 51-year-old interrupted King 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 Ms Thorpe's remarks before she was whisked away by security personnel went viral on social media.
Who is Lidia Thorpe?
Born in 1973 in Carlton, in the state of Victoria, Lidia Thorpe belongs to the Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung peoples and has been a prominent figure in politics and advocacy for Aboriginal causes.
She has a Diploma in Community Development from Swinburne University of Technology and a graduate certificate in public sector management. Ms Thorpe is known for her strong opposition to monarchy and advocacy for Indigenous rights.
Lidia Thorpe's political career
Lidia Thorpe was first elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly from the Northcote seat in a 2017 by-election. She received over 45 percent primary votes. In December 2018, she lost her seat to Labour candidate Kat Theophanous.
In 2020, Victorian Greens members preselected Lidia Thorpe for the federal Senate seat, which fell vacant after the resignation of Richard Di Natale. Her 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 2022, the Greens party room elected Lidia Thorpe as the party's 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 Ms Thorpe and some of her supporters did not approve of, The Guardian reported.
Why did Lidia Thorpe confront King Charles?
After her outburst at King Charles, Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of the venue. While the parliamentary reception continued, she later told the BBC 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."
What are Lidia Thorpe's views on the British monarchy?
Lidia 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.
"How can he stand up there and say he's the King of our country - he's stolen so much wealth from our people and from our land and he needs to give that back. And he needs to entertain a conversation for a peace treaty in this country," she told the BBC.
She advocates for a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians to address historical wrongs. Ms Thorpe believes that moving towards a republic through a treaty process can help resolve "unfinished business."
She has been involved in Indigenous activism for many years, even before entering politics. She has campaigned for justice system reform, environmental issues, and Indigenous land rights. Lidia Thorpe's activism is deeply rooted in her upbringing. "I had no choice in being influenced by black activists and the black struggle of my people...I was born into it and I don't know anything else," she said in 2022.
Lidia Thorpe has a history of high-profile protests. In 2020, during her swearing-in ceremony as a senator, she raised a black power salute while wearing a traditional possum-skin cloak and holding an Aboriginal message stick. The stick bore 441 marks to symbolise Aboriginal deaths in custody following a royal commission in 1991. In 2022, after being re-elected, she referred to the late Queen Elizabeth II as "the colonising Her Majesty" during her oath, for which she was required to repeat the correct wording.
