Moments after King Charles delivered his speech at Parliament House, a protestor launched a verbal attack on the monarch, shouting “you are not my King” and “this is not your land”.
Indigenous Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe, who is known for stunts, moved into the aisle to make the outburst, walking as close as she could to the stage, where the King and Queen Camilla sat alongside Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other officials.
She yelled: “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 a treaty, we want a treaty with this country.
“This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my King, you are not our King.”
King Charles’s speech was interrupted by a protestor (Image: Getty)
It took almost a minute before security removed Ms Thorpe from the room.
As she was forced back into the foyer, the Senator, who was dressed in a long possum skin coat, shouted: “F*** the colonies.”
Those gathered for the Parliamentary reception remained silent during the outburst, while the King turned to speak to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Queen quietly turned to Jodie Haydon, the PM’s partner.
Ms Thorpe had been one of the invited guests gathered inside the Great Hall ahead of Their Majesties’ arrival when her opposition to their visit was first made clear.
She turned her back as a large video screen showed the King standing to attention outside during the official welcome while a band played the national anthem.
The King and Queen only touched down in the capital city this morning and will be returning to Sydney this evening but he is understood to be “unruffled” by the lone protestor and will not let it overshadow what has otherwise been a wonderful day.
Ms Thorpe’s protest came just seconds after the King concluded his speech, which covered his time as a school student in Australia, the Covid pandemic, and Australia’s vulnerability to climate change.
The King has been berated by an Australian senator
In his speech, King Charles spoke affectionately about his relationship with Australia, a country he first visited as a teenager, saying he arrived as an “adolescent” and left more “chiselled” after his experience studying in the Outback.
He also highlighted the debt he owed to Australia’s indigenous people.
Charles said: “In my many visits to Australia, I have witnessed the courage and hope that have guided the nation’s long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation.
“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honour of sharing, so generously, their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”
Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has a long-held aim of holding a referendum on breaking ties with the British monarchy and his country becoming a republic.
But the plans were put on hold after Australians overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to indigenous people in a referendum held last year.