There were protests in Australia’s capital Canberra on Oct. 21 at both the War Memorial and inside the royal reception at Parliament House to confront King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Near the end of his speech in Parliament, Charles was interrupted by Sen. Lidia Thorpe, a representative from the State of Victoria and an indigenous rights activist. Thorpe yelled at Charles, “You are not my King!” and “This is not your country!” Thorpe “was attempting to hand the King a ‘notice of complicity in Aboriginal Genocide’ according to the Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998,” reported the Australian Broadcasting Corp.. At that point Thorpe was “escorted” out of the building. Earlier in the day Senator Thorpe also participated in protests during the King’s visit to the War Memorial where protesters held signs and large bright yellow banners with the theme of “Abolish the Monarchy.” The Green Party released the statement that the King’s visit was a “visual reminder of the ongoing colonial trauma and legacies of British colonialism.”
Although Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been very respectful to the King, Albanese has been a longtime supporter of the movement to make Australia a republic. The King and Queen will spend five days in Australia and then attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. In 1999, republicans in Australia lost a very close vote to remove Queen Elizabeth from the position of head of state.
