King Charles in Australia: Politician disrupts his visit

In the Australian Parliament it is at the end of King Charles III’s speech. there was a scandal. Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe, who had demonstratively turned around and turned her back on the House at the sound of the United Kingdom’s national anthem “God Save the King”, clearly expressed her anger at the regent. “You are not my king, you are not our king!” the politician shouted loudly into the hall. Before she was taken away by security guards, she demanded: “Give us back our land, give us back what you have stolen from our people!”.

Australia was a British colony for more than 100 years. During this time, thousands of Indigenous Australians were killed and entire communities displaced. The country became independent in 1901, but never became a republic. The British King Charles is now the Australian head of state.

Thorpe accused European settlers of “genocide” against Australia’s indigenous peoples in her nearly minute-long tirade. The senator is known for her strict opposition to the monarchy. When she was sworn in as a member of the Senate in 2022, she clenched her fist and reluctantly vowed to serve Queen Elizabeth II, who was then the head of state. “I, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be loyal and devoted to the colonizing Queen Elizabeth II,” Thorpe said at the time, and was subsequently reprimanded by the Senate leader.

King Charles visits Australia for the first time in a new role

Charles is visiting the Commonwealth country for the 17th time – but for the first time as king. It is the first time ever that a British monarch has visited the country. Before Charles, only his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had been there as reigning queen.

He and Queen Camilla arrived in Australia on Friday, but the official program only began on Sunday with a church service in Sydney – on the fringes of which there were already small protests against the monarchy, which now continued in the capital Canberra. Aside from fundamental reservations about the king continuing to act as head of state in a parliamentary democracy on the other side of the world, representatives of indigenous Australians are demanding reparations for the expulsions of Aborigines during the time as a British colony.

In total, Charles and Camilla had 17 appointments on Monday, the second official day of their trip, as the Australian broadcaster ABC reported. At midday (local time), the royal couple laid a wreath at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, with which the country commemorates those soldiers who have fallen in conflicts around the world from colonial times to the present day. This was followed by a visit to Parliament, where both were received by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “Since your first visit in 1966, Australians have taken you to their hearts, just as you have taken us to their hearts,” Mr Albanese said.

It is Charles’ first long-distance trip since he made his cancer public a few months ago. According to British media, he interrupted his treatment because of the visit. On Wednesday the couple wants to travel to the Commonwealth summit in the Pacific island state of Samoa, northeast of Fiji. The confederation mainly includes former British colonies.