Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has spoken out about her protest action against King Charles, saying she had written to the King multiple times to request a meeting but was ignored every time.
The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman protested in front of the King and Queen Camilla during a welcome reception at Parliament House on Monday, before she was escorted out of the event.
"You are not our king. You are not sovereign," she shouted.
"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.
"You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want treaty."
Speaking on Tuesday, Senator Thorpe said her repeated written requests for a meeting and a "respectful conversation" with the monarch had been ignored.
"That wasn't afforded to me, so I did that for my people. I did that for my grandmother, and I wanted the world to know that we need a treaty here and we want an end to this ongoing war against First Peoples in this country," she told ABC radio.
"I don't subscribe to assimilating myself into the colonial structure."
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are in Australia as part of a five day tour ahead of attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Source: AAP / Victoria Jones/PA
"Why doesn't he say, 'I am sorry for the many, many thousands of massacres that happened in this country and that my ancestors and my kingdom are responsible for that?'," she said.
Senator Thorpe demanded the UK hand back Indigenous artefacts and remains that had been taken.
Mixed reaction to protest
Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community advocates have applauded Senator Thorpe for her protest.
Bundjalung human rights advocate, lawyer and inaugural ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner, Vanessa Turnbull Roberts posted to social media, calling the senator a leader and supporting her calls for a treaty.
What Senator Thorpe is demanding is what mob are demanding. Treaties are necessary to recognise historic wrongs and provide an opportunity to look at the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.Vanessa Turnbull Roberts
"People call [Senator Thorpe] angry and "too much"... But trust me, when our people are struggling, she's the first to be there. That's our leader... our people are with her," she posted on Instagram.
Mununjali and South Sea Islander academic and Professor of Indigenous Health Chelsea Watego also praised the protest.
"Senator Thorpe's call out of the King creates an opportunity to talk about the ongoing colonial violence Blakfullas are subject to, including that which is routinely inflicted upon her in her sovereign stance," she posted to her Instagram.
Senator Thorpe has been criticised by some guests who attended the reception, including former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, a committed monarchist.
Former senator Nova Peris, the first Aboriginal woman elected to the federal parliament, said she was "deeply disappointed" by Senator Thorpe's actions.
"Her outburst, which disrupted what should have been a respectful event, was both embarrassing and disrespectful to our nation and the Royal Family," she wrote on X overnight.
"Lidia Thorpe’s actions today do not reflect all of our people’s views or values."
Ms Peris was the co-chair of the Australian Republican Movement until she quit in May after her strong pro-Israel stance put her in conflict with fellow co-chair Craig Foster.
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told The Australian newspaper that, regardless of Senator Thorpe’s personal feelings about the monarch, His Majesty remains a vital part of Australia’s government.
“Her outburst was reflective of the kinds of naive anti-colonial sentiments which dismiss the long-standing relationship between the United Kingdom and Australia,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.
“As a member of the Australian parliament, it is incumbent on her to show civility and respectful engagement when conducting her Parliamentary duties."
The coalition is reportedly considering raising a censure motion against Senator Thorpe in the upper house when it next sits in November.
