By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-11-18 03:15:58 | Updated at 2024-11-18 05:50:40
3 hours ago
Updated
Nov 18, 2024, 10:46 AM
Published
Nov 18, 2024, 10:40 AM
SYDNEY - An Indigenous lawmaker was censured by Australia’s Parliament on Nov 18 for heckling King Charles about the legacy of European settlement during his October visit to Canberra.
The censure carries no practical punishment but passed the Senate on Nov 18 with 46 votes in favour and 12 against.
During the king’s visit to Parliament, independent senator Lidia Thorpe screamed: “This is not your land, you are not my king,” decrying what she said was a “genocide” of Indigenous Australians by European settlers.
She had also turned her back on the king as dignitaries stood for the national anthem.
The censure motion condemned Ms Thorpe’s actions as “disruptive and disrespectful”.
Ms Thorpe told national broadcaster ABC she was disappointed with the Nov 18 outcome, adding that she would “do it again” if the monarch returned.
“I will resist colonisation in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands: First Peoples are the real sovereigns,” she said.
A censure motion is a symbolic gesture when parliamentarians are dissatisfied with the behaviour of one of their own. AFP
