Lidia Thorpe: Aboriginal senator posts cartoon of beheaded king hours after royal visit ‘genocide’ heckling
A senator has posted a cartoon of a beheaded King Charles just hours after screaming “you are not my king” during his visit to Australia.
Lidia Thorpe, who campaigns on First Nations issues, disrupted Charles’ welcome to the capital Canberra with her outburst which overshadowed a speech by the King highlighting his debt to the descendants of Australia’s first inhabitants. She claimed “genocide” had taken place by colonialists.
And now she has shared on Instagram a cartoon of the King’s head lying next to a crown. The cartoon was made by Matt Chun who is coeditor of anti-imperialist The Sunday Paper. During the monarch’s welcome in Canberra, Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese also hinted at his hopes Australia will ditch the monarchy and become a republic when he told the King: “Nothing stands still.”
Charles and Camilla have faced low-key demonstrations during their tour of Australia, which began today, from supporters of First Nations resistance to colonisation, who have been displaying a banner with the word “decolonise” at a number of events. But the protest from Ms Thorpe is likely to be seen as an embarrassment for Charles, who is making his first visit to Australia as King.
After the King spoke to guests at Parliament House, Ms Thorpe, who wore a possum skin coat and carried a traditional message stick, shouted: “You are not our King, you are not sovereign … you have committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us … Our babies, our people. You destroyed our land.”
As she was gently ushered from the building’s hall, she screamed: “Give us a treaty – we want a treaty with this country … This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my King, you are not our King.”
