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Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
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'Gives us what you stole from us,' Australian senator yells at visiting King Charles
by Associated Press
CANBERRA, Australia --
An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his
land and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monarch is not needed
as the country's head of state as the British royal visited Australia's
parliament on Monday.
Indigenous independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of a
parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that
British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones.
"You committed genocide against our people," she shouted. "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."
King Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while
security officials stopped Senator Thorpe from approaching.
"This is not your land. You are not my king," Thorpe yelled as she was
ushered from the hall.
Albanese, who wants the country to become a republic with an Australian
head of state, also told the king it was time for his role to end.
"You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when
we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and
the nature of our relationship with the Crown," Albanese said. But, he
said, "nothing stands still."
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants to keep the British king as
Australia's monarch, noted that even supporters of a republic were
honored to attend a reception for the Charles and Queen Camilla at
Parliament House in the capital Canberra.
"People have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been
pressed and that's just the republicans," Dutton quipped.
Australia's six state government leaders underscored the political
divide on the country's constitutional relationship with Britain by
declining invitations to attend the reception. All six would prefer an
Australian citizen was Australia's head of state. They each said they
had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the
royals had been snubbed.
Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder
Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and
queen.
"Let me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning's moving Welcome
to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects
to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal
people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this
continent for 65,000 years," Charles said.
"Throughout my life, Australia's First Nations peoples have done me the
great honor 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," Charles added.
Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth
II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the
consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen
rather than majority support for a monarch.
Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during
his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if
his center-left Labor Party is reelected at elections due by May next
year.
Charles was drawn into Australia's republic debate months before his
visit.
The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its
constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last
year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate
their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the
king's meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A
meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.
"Whether Australia becomes a republic is ... a matter for the
Australian public to decide," the Buckingham Palace letter said.
Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla laid wreaths at the Australian War
Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of
their visit.
The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple.
Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to a
scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles' 17th trip to Australia and the
first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia
by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II
traveled to the distant nation in 2011.
Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late Friday
before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church
service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they
visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at
Parliament House.
Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet hundreds of
people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags.
On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
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