Senator Lidia Thorpe faces bipartisan rebuke and calls to resign after heckling King Charles in Parliament
Peter Dutton has called on Senator Lidia Thorpe to resign after she heckled the King, questioning how she is happy to accept a quarter of a million dollars in salary a year from a system that she fundamentally doesn’t believe in.
The Greens-turned-independent MP staged a one-woman protest against King Charles after he delivered a speech in Parliament’s Great Hall on Monday.
“Give us what you stole from us, our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people,” Senator Thorpe heckled shortly after the King addressed the hall.
“You are a genocidalist, this is not your land. This is not your land. You are not my king, you are not our king.”
The protest came about an hour after King Charles and Queen Camilla were greeted by a crowd of thousands outside the Australian War Memorial.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to the King’s defence, saying the monarch was doing a “fantastic job” despite battling cancer.
“We should remember in the context of health, that he is out there doing his public service notwithstanding the health challenges he himself has had,” Sir Keir told media in the UK.
Camera IconUK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Credit: TheWest
Senator Thorpe remained unapologetic in the face of overwhelming backlash, telling ABC radio she did not “assimilate to the colonial structures”.
“I will be there for another three years, everybody, so get used to truth-telling,” she said.
Mr Dutton on Tuesday morning said that if Senator Thorpe was genuine, she would consider her position in the Senate.
“I think there’s a very strong argument for somebody who doesn’t believe in the system, but is willing to take a quarter of a million dollars a year from the system, to resign in principle,” the Opposition leader told Sunrise.
“If you were really truly about your cause and not just about yourself, then I think that’s a decision that you would make.”
Camera IconFormer senator Nova Peris and Anthony Albanese. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian
Olympic athlete and Australia’s first female Indigenous senator Nova Peris also took to X, to denounce the “embarrassing and disrespectful… outburst”.
“Senator Thorpe’s actions (Monday) do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large,” the former Labor senator wrote.
“They reflect only her, and it is important to clarify that the vast majority of us would not engage in this unconstructive confrontational way.”
Ms Peris said although she had supported Australia becoming a Republic for many years, the issue had to be decided through a democratic process.
Highlighting Senator Thorpe’s oath of allegiance to the Queen when she was sworn in, Ms Peris said elected representatives were required to respect “our nation’s constitutional framework” regardless of personal views.
“If Senator Thorpe was not on board with this, she should not have accepted her position and made her affirmation in the first place,” she said.
Camera IconSenator Dean Smith. Credit: Ross Swanborough/The West Australian
WA senator Dean Smith – a leading supporter of the constitutional monarchy – has called on the senate president to discipline Senator Thorpe, saying the outburst reflected badly on every member of the chamber.
“This is becoming a pattern of disruption which is unbecoming of a senator and is reflecting poorly on every Senator,” the Liberal MP said.
“It is time for the senate president (Sue Lines) to protect the integrity of the Senate and to formally discipline Senator Thorpe.
“If this appalling behaviour is not called out then it will become the norm.”
Labor MP and Social Services Minster Amanda Rishworth called the protest “pretty disrespectful” not only to the monarch but also to the “many great Australians” who had gathered to hear the King.
Camera IconHome Affairs Minister Clare O’Neill. Credit: Ebony Swetman
Housing Minister Clare O’Neill described it as “inappropriate” and said it had detracted from a “generous and beautiful” Welcome to Country delivered by respected Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham called her actions “reprehensible” and said her behaviour had brought “shame” upon the parliament “and those she pretends to represent.
But the shadow foreign affairs minister was hesitant to support censuring her in the Senate, warning she would “revel” in the attention such a move would bring.
National Party senator Bridget McKenzie labelled Senator Thorpe’s actions “appalling”.
“We’re embarrassed across the globe as a result of this,” she said.
Senator Thorpe was further drawn into controversy after an image of a beheaded King Charles appeared on her X account.
Explaining the since-deleted post on Monday evening, Senator Thorpe blamed someone else in her team for posting the image.
“Earlier tonight, without my knowledge, one of my staff shared an image to my Instagram stories created by another account,” she wrote on X.
“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.”
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