Canberra: King Charles faced a direct protest from Indigenous senator and activist Lidia Thorpe at Australia’s Parliament House on Monday, shortly after delivering a speech in which he paid “respects to the traditional owners of the lands.”
On his 16th official visit to Australia and his first major foreign engagement since a cancer diagnosis, Charles had just concluded his address when Thorpe interrupted with a passionate protest against colonialism.
“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,” Thorpe shouted.
Security swiftly intervened, stopping Thorpe from approaching the King, who remained calm, speaking quietly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the podium. Thorpe, known for disrupting public events to raise awareness about Indigenous issues, was escorted out of the chamber.
Protest Amid Praise
While Thorpe’s outburst brought attention to unresolved colonial tensions, the protest stood out among otherwise warm tributes to Charles and Queen Camilla from government officials and well-wishers.
Prime Minister Albanese praised the King’s long-standing advocacy for climate change action, underscoring the respect many Australians have for him. Reflecting on Australia’s transformation, Albanese said that, “The Australia you first knew has grown and evolved in so many ways. Yet through these decades of change, our bonds of respect and affection have matured and endured.”
Hello Canberra! 👋🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/z2SlJEiFcf
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 21, 2024
Before visiting Parliament, Charles and Camilla toured the Australian War Memorial, where they met more than a thousand well-wishers alongside an unexpected guest: Hephner, a nine-year-old alpaca dressed in a suit and crown.
Hephner, humorously named after Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, waited hours with his owner, Robert Fletcher, to meet the royal couple during their one-day tour of Canberra.
The royal couple will continue their Australian tour in Sydney on Tuesday before traveling to Samoa for a British Commonwealth meeting.
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