During King Charles III’s visit to the Australian Parliament on Monday, October 21, 2024, Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe sharply challenged the British monarch with slogans denouncing colonization

“Give us back our land, give us back what you stole from us!” she chanted in an intervention lasting around a minute, just after the 75-year-old king’s speech to Australia’s elected representatives and dignitaries.

Dressed in a fur cape, Lidia Thorpe denounced what she described as the “genocide” of indigenous peoples, recalling the tragic impact of British colonization on Australia’s Aborigines. During more than a century of colonial rule, thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and many communities displaced. Although Australia gained de facto independence in 1901, it never became a republic, and King Charles III remains the country’s head of state to this day.

Lidia Thorpe, a controversial figure, is known for her prominent actions against the monarchy. At her swearing-in ceremony in 2022, she raised her fist in protest, reluctantly swearing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, then Head of State. “I do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the colonizer Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”, she had declared, before being called to order.

Despite a 1999 referendum rejecting the idea of a republic, there are currently no plans for constitutional reform to transform the country. King Charles III’s nine-day visit, which also includes Samoa, is his first major international tour since announcing his cancer earlier this year.