Australian Senate censures Indigenous lawmaker for protesting King Charles.
Ms. Thorpe’s protest was disruptive and she did not respect the democratic institutions, the motion said.
Indigenous Australian lawmaker censured for protesting King Charles, accusing him of genocide during his November 2024 parliament visit.
Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe rejected King Charles’ sovereignty claim after his speech honoring traditional landowners in Australia.
The censure motion, backed by both the governing Labor party and the opposition coalition, carries no legal or constitutional weight.
Ms. Thorpe’s protest was disruptive and she did not respect the democratic institutions, the motion said.
The British monarch is Australia’s head of state.
‘I’ll do it again’
Ms. Thorpe, a woman of DjabWurrung, Gunnai, and Gunditjmara heritage, denounced the motion supporters as “hypocrites” and asserted that the censure procedure was merely a tactic to deflect focus from the genuine challenges facing Australia.
Regrettably, they remain the most marginalized demographic in the country according to various socio-economic indicators.
Their forebears reached the continent half a millennium prior to the arrival of British settlers, however, they faced marginalization under colonial governance and remain unacknowledged in Australia’s century-old constitution.
After the election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States, the Senate approved a motion to censure United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet due to his inappropriate remarks on social media platform X.
