Hugs and misses as elders repose royal rants
By NEVE BRISSENDEN
A day after being yelled at by firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe in the nation’s capital, King Charles has been cautiously embraced by Indigenous elders.
Senator Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, confronted the King and Queen Camilla during a welcome reception at Parliament House on Monday, before being removed by security officials.
After departing Canberra, though, the King was greeted a day later with a mixture of adulation and angry protest at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in the inner Sydney suburb of Redfern.
Lining the street for his arrival, some chanted “you’re on stolen land” and “no pride in genocide”, while officials including National Indigenous Australians Agency chief executive Jody Broun and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chair Allan Murray welcomed the royals inside.
“We’ve got stories to tell and I think you witnessed that story yesterday,” Mr Murray told the King, referring to his encounter with Senator Thorpe.
“Welcome to Gadigal land.”
The King was then greeted with a smoking ceremony.
Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Thorpe rejected calls for her resignation for shouting “you are not our king, you are not sovereign” during Monday’s parliamentary session.
“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,” she yelled at the King during the session.
Lidia Thorpe loudly addressed the King and Queen before being removed by security. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Speaking on Tuesday, she called for a treaty and demanded the UK hand back stolen Indigenous artefacts and remains.
“I did that for my people. I did that for my grandmother and I wanted the world to know 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.”
Senator Thorpe doubled down on her accusation the King was complicit in the genocide of Indigenous people by remaining silent.
“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.
Asked about her affirmation of allegiance to the Crown when she was sworn in as a parliamentarian, Senator Thorpe said she did so under duress and to fulfil her duties.
King Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on a podium in the Great Hall as security officers stopped Senator Thorpe approaching further and escorted her from the room.
Senator Thorpe, who was a guest at the event, was criticised by others at the reception including former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott and Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton labelled her protest an act of “self-promotion” and said she should consider resigning.
“People need to express themselves respectfully and sometimes people make it all about themselves and I think that’s what yesterday was,” he told the ABC.
Labor minister Amanda Rishworth said Senator Thorpe’s actions were “pretty disrespectful and not just to the King but to the many great Australians that had gathered in the Great Hall”.
Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s Ark which was adapted by Steven Spielberg into Schindler’s List, was asked about the Parliament House commotion.
“I wish it hadn’t happened. I think there is a psychosis about it. These two people are just here to do their duty,” he said.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore added, “I think it’s not their fault that we’re not a republic. It’s ours, the Australian people. We voted for this. It’s important to be respectful.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns, who hosted a community barbecue for the royal couple, said Senator Thorpe’s protest was “grossly disrespectful”.
“Everything that particular senator does seems to revolve around herself, as if she’s attempting to make herself, that senator, the focus of all attention,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.
The coalition is considering raising a censure motion against Senator Thorpe in the upper house when it next sits in November.
AAP