"You are not our king!" Shouts Australian senator Lidia Thorpe

Do not think her political career will go far after this escapade. A ranting abusive diatribe got her noticed, which was the intention, as was the expletive.

Aussies can be a bit brash.

A lot of what she says I agree with - although I dont agree with heckling the King.

These things are not his fault, nor does he have any power to change them.

In this instance her method may have been wrong but I agree with a lot of what she stands for.

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Good on her! The world is sick of thieving colonisers and genociders!

She was Green’s Senator but left the party because of their support for The Voice (which failed dramatically at the referendum). She is a fervent supporter of a treaty and campaigned against The Voice. Personally I think a treaty is unlikely and I doubt she will be re-elected at the end of her term which expires in 2028.

She actually wasn’t elected as a senator but replaced a retiring senator - appointed by the Victorian Parliament.

Edit:

I said she wouldn’t be re-elected as a senator but then what would I know, I didn’t think Jacqui Lambie would either but she has gone from strength to strength as a Tassie Senator after being elected in 2013 as a member of the conservative Clive Parmer’s United Party, she split with him to become an Independent Senator eventually forming the Jacqui Lambie Network

Australia is Britain’s greatest achievement

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It sounded to me she was shouting at colonisation of Australia in general. The King just gave a currently available focal point. As regards him being King of Australia, nobody I know here would mind if he wasn’t.

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Ha, ha Yep Alexander Downer a Foreign Minister in the Monarchist mad Howard Government is going to have a lot of nice things to say about a Labor Foreign Minister born in Malaysia don’t you reckon?

Alexander Downer in the 1990s:

He is the salmon that jumps on the hook for you

Not going to happen, if vulgar language and hysterical, theatrical melodrama is your preferred modus operandi. A written letter or a request to discuss properly may have served her purpose better.

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Apparently that was her complaint, she had written (as a Senator) to King Charlie about this on several occasions and never received a reply.

Anyway Charlie is flying off tomorrow to meet my son.

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If Australian citizens want a Republic then vote on it. King Charles has confirmed that it is up to the Australian people to decide whether the country remains a constitutional monarchy or becomes a republic.

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This event has absolutely nothing to do with being a republic. You are totally missing the point.

Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme provided ex-gratia payments to Stolen Generations survivors . The reparations aimed to acknowledge historical injustices faced by Stolen Generations survivors. The amount provided to each recipient was $75,000. The Scheme closed for new applications on 30 June 2023.

Becoming a republic may not improve the wellbeing for Aboriginal population.

I dIsagree, UK taxpayers are not the cash cow for payback. Our government is already borrowing money to pay other colonies.

Sorry, I am not sure what you are disagreeing with, what have I said that has to do with or costs the UK taxpayer (except Charlie himself)?

There were also shouts of “You are not my King” at his inauguration by British people.
Although I’m reluctant to wish for a Britain without a monarchy, like religion, I think the royal family may be past it’s sell by date. There are a lot worse things happening in the UK than the displeasure and abolition of the royals, and they will have a much greater effect on society as we know it than a few spongers at the top end of the elite. People have got their priorities all wrong.

Lots of people in Australia, including me, wouldn’t mind at all if he wasn’t either.

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I think Lidia Thorpe’s heckling was raising a specific issue concerning injustices and reparation for the indigenous people and I think it is important to view this as separate issue and not muddle it up in discussion with the other more general issues of Australia becoming a Republic or of abolishing the system of monarchy altogether.

I sympathise with what Lidia Thorpe and the Indigenous People are asking for and I think they have some valid claims. I may not like the rude and heckling style of Lidia’s challenge but, in an age where we are saturated with news, it is only the sensational and shocking bits which reach our headlines and make us sit up and take notice.
How many people outside of Australia are aware of the full story behind their claims?
Seeing Lidia heckling the King on mainstream news has prompted me to do a bit of research about the history behind their demands.

For that reason, I can see why Lidia chose to make her challenge in such a “newsworthy” way - I didn’t like the way she “personalised it” as if Charles himself was the person who committed genocide and stole their land and the human remains of their ancestors but I’m sure he understood that her use of “you” was not him personally but as the representative of the system that enabled it, in his role as Monarch and Head of State.

None of their demands are in the gift of King Charles, however much he may sympathise with them - they require the approval of either U.K. or Australian Govt, or both - except maybe an apology from the King on behalf the Crown - but even that probably would need some supporting action which would require Govt Approval.

The Crown Land which was stolen from the Indigenous groups of people is not part of U.K. Crown Estates - all Crown Land in Australia is held by the States in Australia, so claims of land rights are in their Court.
The demands to return artefacts and ancestral remains of indigenous people is something which our Government could do. They were taken from Australia without permission from the Indigenous people they belonged to, so they should be returned to them if they want them back.
As I understand it, the U.K. and Australian Govt are already in discussions about doing this.
A project led by the British Museum and supported by the Australian Research Council have identified 39,000 indigenous artefacts held across 70 museums in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Some museums, including the Natural History Museum in London, have also historically held skulls and other human remains collected during the colonial settlement of Australia.
It is not right that U.K. should hold on to these things if the First Nation people want their ancestral remains and artefacts back in their homeland.

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You’re right but it is hardly a pressing issue now is it?

We lost the golden opportunity in the 1980s when Bob Hawke was PM and when there was a definite taste for change, it failed to materialise all because of Diana’s visit, if Charlie had come without her I am convinced we would be a republic now.

John Howard killed it off by offering a referendum on choices even the most ardent republican couldn’t accept. Since then interest has just died and currently there seems to be no one pushing for a republic at all, I would say, like the flag debate, it is furthest from anyone’s mind, The Voice and the Treaty are well ahead of a republic and they are not going to happen any time soon, the government seems to have abandoned even the Makarrata Commission

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That is exactly right. As I have tried to say a republic and the constitutional monarchy are a totally separate and unrelated issue to Senator Thorpe’s outburst

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