‘Don’t play up’: Senator Lidia Thorpe’s shock claim about king

Senator Lidia Thorpe has claimed a Liberal senator whispered to her “don’t play up” before she yelled at King Charles in the Great Hall of Parliament House on Monday.

King Charles visited Australia’s highest office to address MPs and senators as part of his five-day Royal Tour to Australia with Queen Camilla.

His visit was overshadowed by an outburst from Senator Thorpe who yelled at the king as he finished his speech in scenes that were televised around the world.

During an interview with The Saturday Paper, Senator Thorpe said a Liberal senate colleague tried to “shoulder her out of the way” then another whispered to her: “Don’t play up.”

Senator Thorpe revealed she was carrying a writ from her Uncle Robbie which called the monarch to the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity.

Senator Thorpe told the paper she had asked for a meeting with the King and had intended to hand him the writ quietly.

“If he had of walked past me I would have politely said, ‘King, you’ve been served,’” she said.

Instead, the senator became enraged, she “looked up at the pompous stuff, the extravagance, and then the just blatant disregard for what had happened to our people.”

“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” she yelled at the monarch,

“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. This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king. F..k the colony, f..k the colony, f..k the colony.”

Senator Thorpe told the paper when a Black woman spoke with a loud voice, they were criticised as intimidating or angry or sick or had something wrong with them.

Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers told Sky News the king and queen appeared to be “unruffled” by the senator’s outburst.

“Charles has been around the block a long while, he has seen it all, I don’t think it was anything to concern him,” he said.

“She had her big moment in the sun but it certainly didn’t derail the tour.”

Senator Thorpe’s parliamentary colleagues have called for her to resign and step down from her position in the senate in the wake of the confrontation.