KING CHARLES HECKLED BY AUS SENATOR

During his official visit to Australia, King Charles was heckled by a local senator. The incident took place on Monday just moments after he delivered a speech during which he honoured and paid his respects “to the traditional owners of the lands”. Soon after he was exiting Australia’s Parliament House when an Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe yelled: “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.” King Charles was unfazed and continued with his chat to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Thorpe was held back from approaching the king and escorted out of the chamber. Even though Australia has been a fully independent country since 1986, it remains a constitutional monarchy and the British monarch, in this case, King Charles, serves as its head of state. During a 1999 referendum, the majority of Australians voted against transitioning to a republic. This isn’t the first time that Senator Thorpe has disrupted an event. She previously protested over the colonization of Australia at a public event. Australia’s former Prime Minister Tony Abbot also attended the event and told reporters afterwards that it was an “unfortunate political exhibitionism”.

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