Thorpe’s ‘breach’ called into question
The Australian Monarchists League has called out Senator Lidia Thorpe for yelling during the “historic moment” when King Charles III visited parliament.
As the King wrapped up his official tour of Australia – his first since becoming monarch – AML royal tour spokesman Alexander Voltz said His Majesty had enjoyed the last few days meeting with Australians.
“It’s the first time an Australian king has been here to our country,” Mr Voltz said.
“There were a few attempts to derail the success of the tour, but I don’t think those have landed.
“There’s so many people who’ve turned out to see the king, they haven’t been dissuaded.”
His comments come after Senator Lidia Thorpe interrupted a parliamentary reception in Canberra for King Charles and Queen Camilla.
“You are not our king, you are not our sovereign” “f– k the king”, she yelled at the Australian head of state.
“Give us what you stole from us ... our babies, our people, you destroyed our land. It’s not your land, you are not our king.”
Mr Voltz said the AML are convinced the monarchy is “the best system of government that’s currently available to us”, but noted if a better option was presented the “democratic thing to do” would be considered.
“I think in this debate people expect us to defend monarchy … but we like to say history defends monarchy, and the great success of Australia defending the system we’ve got is clearly working well,” he said.
Mr Voltz said Senator Thorpe had “breached her oath of allegiance” by making the remarks.
“I think Senator Thorpe has breached her oath of allegiance that she swore when she entered into the parliament, and now that the royal tour is over, we’ll be exploring how we take that issue forward and see what we can do with it as the Australian Monarchist League,“ Mr Voltz said.
NewsWire has contacted Senator Thorpe for comment.
Speaking more broadly, Mr Voltz also claimed treaties “subdivide our notion of sovereignty”.
“You end up with very difficult political circumstances … We think that above all, the crown is there to represent all people if they should choose to be represented by the Crown,” he claimed.
“I look around and I can see that there’s very many different Australians of different backgrounds out here today.”
He also said one of the AML’s spokespeople was both Indigenous and a “proud monarchist”.
“So I think the idea of suggesting that it’s one for all and all for another … It’s more nuanced than that,” he said.
“And people like Senator Thorpe and those who support her I think often miss that point.”
He finished by saying “it really has been a great tour”.
“I think this will go down in history,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lidia Thorpe says she made her vocal protest in King Charles’ face as part of a continued push toward a treaty.
Speaking to the National Indigenous Times in the hours after her protest, the independent senator said Australia’s head of state has historic wrongs to right.
“I wanted to send a clear message to King Coloniser to say that there’s unfinished business and we want our land back,” Senator Thorpe said.
“We want the bones back. How many of our old people been going overseas and trying to get our artefacts and our bones back.”
There are some 39,000 Indigenous artefacts held in 70 museums in the UK and Ireland.
Some items are being returned to Indigenous Australians, but the law governing the British Museum effectively outlaws items being returned to their original custodians the world over.
Not my King.
Treaty now.— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 21, 2024
The King and the Prime Minister shared a word as the crossbench senator was escorted out by security.
On Monday night, a cartoon depicting a decapitated King Charles was shared on her Instagram account.
Senator Thorpe blamed it on a staff member and deleted the image.
“Earlier tonight, without my knowledge, one of my staff shared an image to my Instagram stories (that was) created by another account,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I deleted it as soon as I saw. I would not intentionally share anything that could be seen to encourage violence against anyone. That’s not what I’m about.”
The image was made by anti-imperialist activist and cartoonist Matt Chun.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBYJNSUO1TF/?hl=en&img_index=1
Senator Thorpe’s outburst in front of the King received criticism from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and outrage from royalists.
Senator Thorpe told the National Indigenous Times she had a responsibility to her ancestors to resist the effects of colonisation.
“I can’t stand silent when there are injustices going on against our people,” she said.
“Peace looks like a treaty and that’s what my old people are telling me.
“Blackfellas may not agree. But we don’t have to agree. Let’s go down the process of a treaty. Let’s work out what we want for our people, our families, our language groups and put that on the table.”
Analysis of Indigenous Australians’ decisions on the Voice Referendum vary. Some analysis shows at polling booths with more than 50 per cent Indigenous Australians, 63 per cent voted yes.
Overwhelmingly, Indigenous remote booths voted 73 per cent yes.
Senator Thorpe did not support a Voice to parliament, saying a Voice was the “easy way to fake progress” for First Nations people without making any changes.
She instead called for a treaty.
Queensland and Victoria have truth-telling inquiries as part of their respective paths to treaty.
The senator’s protest at King Charles’ reception on Monday drew condemnation from politicians on both sides.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Senator Thorpe’s outburst was self promotion.
“It was entirely predictable,” Mr Dutton told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“All about herself. It doesn’t advance any cause she’s interested in.”
He suggested that the crossbench senator should resign if she did not believe in the system of which she was part of.
“There is a strong argument that someone who doesn’t believe in the system and takes a quarter of a million dollars a year from the system should resign.”
The Australian Federal Police say there was no threat directed at Their Majesties and are not investigating.