Lidia Thorpe And Her History Of Calling Out The British Monarchy

Lidia Thorpe, the first Aboriginal Senator of Victoria, confronted the British Monarch during his visit to Australia. It wasn’t her first, as she is known for calling the then-Queen Elizabeth II a coloniser.

The British Monarch, King Charles III, visited the Australian Parliament and, after finishing his speech, was confronted by Senator Lidia Thorpe, who accused him of performing genocide against the Indigenous communities of Australia. "You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back,” she said. “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 a treaty." During her speech, she went on to denounce him as her king. 

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It wasn’t her first time speaking foul about the Monarchy, during her oath after getting re-elected, she changed the words of the oath. She referred to the then-queen as 'the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II," for which she received a lot of backlash. Over the years, she has been very vocal about her stance on the Monarch’s rule over Australia. She is a firm advocate for the black community in Australia and even protested an Anti-Trans rally organised by a British Activist.

The opposition was quick to comment after the incident. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, from the conservative Liberal Party, called the whole fiasco unfortunate political exhibitionism.