International media have labelled Senator Lidia Thorpe’s disruption of a parliamentary reception for King Charles “jarring” and “painful”, as Thorpe herself appeared on UK television to discuss the incident.
Thorpe started yelling out soon after the King concluded his speech, yelling “You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” and accusing him of being complicit in genocide.
The New York Times called it a “jarring interruption” that “revived a perennial question about how long the British monarch will reign over Australia.”
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told the Times there was “no personal animosity” towards Charles, but that it was an appropriate time to revisit the question of a republic,
“It’s doable, and if that’s what the people want, we should deliver it,” he said.
As the Washington Post reports, the incident threatened to “revive the contentious debate Down Under” that surrounded the death of the Queen.
“Australia is one of the few settler-colonised Commonwealth nations that doesn’t have a treaty with its First Nations people,” the report read.
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London’s The Telegraph, reports that numerous Aboriginal elders and leaders, including Nova Peris, Marcia Langton and Aunty Violet Sheridan, felt moved to apologise “for what they feared may be a stunt that poorly represents their communities”.
The report continued that it was “painful” that a lone protester may see Australia fall short on the world stage.
Thorpe herself spoke to Sky News UK, telling the broadcaster she was “not fussed about what people say about me”.
Thorpe continued:
I will continue to fight for justice for my people. We are the real sovereigns in this country. The King is not our sovereign. The King lives in your country. He’s from your country. He can’t be our king.
I have the support of Aboriginal people around this country.”
