‘Get used to it’: Lidia Thorpe defiant

Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe has spoken out about her foul-mouthed outburst in front of King Charles, warning she would never “assimilate”, and suggesting that critics should “get used to it”.

Accusing King Charles of being “complicit” in genocide by not renouncing what his ancestors were involved in, she said, “If he doesn’t say, ‘I am sorry,’ for the many, many thousands of massacres in this country, then his kingdom is responsible for that.”

“So if the King sees this going on and he knows that this is going on, then why doesn’t he say anything? Why doesn’t he stop the assault on First Nations peoples in this country, and why go to the nice morning teas?’’ said Senator Thorpe.

“And yes, I’m loud, but I’m proud, and I’ll continue to be guided by elders and the black sovereign movement on calling this colony out for what it is.”

She suggested the British Empire should “hand back the bones” of her dead ancestors.

“And by the way, we’ll start handing back your bones, your skulls and everything else we stole from you,’’ she said the King should tell Australia.

The controversial Indigenous MP screamed out “f**k the colony” and “you are not my King” in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra shortly after the monarch had delivered a speech praising Australia.

Ms Thorpe also yelled out a demand for “treaty”, telling the King “you stole our land”, as audible groans could be heard in room.

“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,” she shouted, while dressed in a native fur coat.

She was swiftly evicted by security guards, who had been watching her throughout the proceedings.

This morning, Ms Thorpe appeared on ABC Radio National to explain why she did it.

“So I’ve written to the King a number of times. He’s ignored me every time,’’ she said.

“So I did that for my people. I did that for my grandmother, and I wanted the world to know that we need a treaty here, and we want an end to this ongoing war against First Peoples in this country.”

Host Steve Cannane said “there are many people who respect what you’re saying, but don’t respect how you delivered it”.

“I say that I don’t assimilate to the colonial structures. I’ve always protested and resisted, and so have my people,” the Senator replied.

“So I don’t subscribe to assimilating myself into the colonial structure. However, I will be there for another three years, everybody. So, you know, get used to truth telling. And my approach, unfortunately might upset a few people.”

Dutton reacts to Thorpe’s protest

Liberal leader Peter Dutton, meanwhile, has slammed Ms Thorpe for her outburst, suggesting that if she doesn’t like “the system” she could always resign.

“It was entirely predictable,” Mr Dutton told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“All about herself. It doesn’t advance any cause she’s interested in.

“I think it was disrespectful and most Australians dismiss it on that basis.”

Asked if the independent Senator should continue to serve in parliament, Mr Dutton said quitting was always an option.

“There is a strong argument that someone who doesn’t believe in the system and takes a quarter of a million dollars a year from the system should resign,” he said.

In response, Ms Thorpe claimed that Mr Dutton runs away every time they bump into each other in parliament.

“Every time I see him in parliament, he walks in the opposite direction, so he never wants to sit down and have a conversation,’’ she said.

“I’m not sure why, but I really don’t care what Dutton says. I’m in this job for another three-and-a-half years.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said Ms Thorpe’s protest was “disrespectful”.

“I was standing next to a number of great Australians who were pretty shocked and didn’t quite understand why this was going on,” Ms Rishworth said.

“It was pretty disappointing, but it didn’t put a dampener on the very positive rest of the welcome ceremony.”

Ms Rishworth said this was a “stunt by Lidia Thorpe” and that “giving it oxygen is exactly what she wants”.

“We should be united in our sort of condemnation of it,” Ms Rishworth said.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told The Times there was “no personal animosity” towards Charles, but it was an appropriate time to revisit the question of a republic.

“It’s doable, and if that’s what the people want, we should deliver it,” he said.

The Washington Post said the incident threatened to “revive the contentious debate Down Under” that emerged upon the death of the Queen.

“Australia is one of the few settler-colonised Commonwealth nations that doesn’t have a treaty with its First Nations people,” the report said.

Decapitation image blamed on staff

Overnight, Ms Thorpe deleted an image of King Charles being beheaded after it sparked another backlash.

She said the image was uploaded “without her knowledge” and she has now “deleted it”.

Writing on X, she said: “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 it. I would not intentionally share anything that could be seen to encourage violence against anyone. That’s not what I’m about.”

Ms Thorpe had already made headlines around the world by shouting at the King. The Instagram post came just hours later. The cartoon showed Charles’ head lying next to a crown, which was captioned: “You are not our King.”

It was first created by Matt Chun, coeditor of anti-imperialist publication The Sunday Paper.

Ms Thorpe has previously spoken out against the British monarchy – she famously called the late Queen a “coloniser” and, in 2022, was reprimanded for sarcastically reciting the oath of allegiance as she was sworn into parliament.

The “not my King” outburst was not the first act of protest by the Senator during the royal tour, which will wrap up on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, she was nearly arrested at an Indigenous protest outside the Australian War Memorial.

In a statement, the AFP said no arrests had been made from the incident.

“This morning, police spoke to a protest group near the Australian War Memorial,” an AFP spokeswoman said.