Independent senator and Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe accused King Charles of genocide during his visit to Australia’s Parliament House on Monday.
King Charles, the British monarch, was on his 16th official visit to Australia, and his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer, Reuters reports.
Moments after he delivered a speech paying “respects to the traditional owners of the lands,” Thorpe shouted that she did not accept his sovereignty over Australia.
“You committed genocide against our people,” she said. “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 treaty.”
“This is not your land, you are not my King,” BBC quoted her as saying.
Thorpe, who has previously protested against the colonisation of Australia, attempted to approach the king but was stopped by security.
She was then escorted out of the chamber, while King Charles remained unfazed, quietly speaking to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the podium.
The protest contrasted with the warm reception Charles and Queen Camilla received from dignitaries and the public. Albanese praised the king for his long-standing advocacy on climate change, stating, “The Australia you first knew has grown and evolved in so many ways.
“Yet through these decades of change, our bonds of respect and affection have matured – and endured.”
Albanese’s speech briefly touched on the Republican cause, which he and much of his centre-left Labor party support, though plans for a referendum on turning Australia into a republic were shelved after the failure of a government-backed referendum on an Indigenous advisory body earlier this year.
The royal couple’s visit also included a trip to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, where they were greeted by more than a thousand well-wishers.
Among them was Hephner, a nine-year-old alpaca dressed in a suit and crown. His owner, Robert Fletcher, said, “He has many outfits and this is one we’ve saved specifically for today. One king meets another king.”
Hephner’s patience was rewarded when King Charles stopped to pat him, pulling back with a laugh after the alpaca snorted in his face.
The royal couple is set to continue their tour in Sydney on Tuesday, before heading to Samoa for a Commonwealth meeting.