After protesting King Charles’ speech in the parliament shouting ‘you are not my king’, indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe later on Monday shared a cartoon of Charles beheaded on her Instagram — stoking another controversy. The cartoon was drawn by Matt Chun and it said ‘you are not our king’. Thorpe is the first Aboriginal senator for the state of Victoria and is an activist of First Nations issues.Thorpe later deleted the cartoon and issued a statement clarifying that it was shared without her knowledge and she would not promote violence.
“Earlier tonight, without my knowledge, one of my staff shared an image to my Instagram stories created by another account, 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,” she posted.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. 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 in this country. You are a genocidalist. This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe said before she was escorted out of the hall.
“F**k the colony. F**k the colony. F**k the colony,” she said when she was removed.
‘Call for resign’
Express UK reported that the monarchists in Australia urged Thorpe to resign after her outburst which they called “disgusting and “disgraceful”. Philip Benwell, National Chairman of the Australian Monarchist League, said the association is investigating legal avenues to remove her from parliament. “I was actually standing close to Lidia Thorpe and was able to watch her every move.
“She is a person who openly declared, on taking her place in the Senate, that she would be faithful and bear true allegiance to the monarch. That she did so to be able to sit in the Senate is beside the point. The fact is that, for whatever reason, she declared her allegiance to King Charles and yet she has now screamed to the King in person “you are not my King.”
‘Apologies to King Charles III’
Former senator and Aboriginal leader Nova Peris condemned Thrope’s abuses and said she supports the cause of the Aboriginal people but not through “rude interruptions or public outbursts”. “Senator Thorpe’s actions today do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large. They reflect only her, and it is important to clarify that the vast majority of us would not engage in this unconstructive confrontational way,” Nova Peris wrote on X.
“I would like to extend my sincere apologies to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on behalf of all those who value mutual respect and the dignity of our nation. When King Charles visited Yolngu Country in 2018, he was welcomed with great respect and warmth by the traditional owners of the land, who honoured him with a traditional ceremony. That moment exemplified the kind of engagement we need—one where respect is earned and given in equal measure,” her post read.