 "After heckling, beheaded pic of King Charles posted: How row involving Australia's Lidia Thorpe grows")
Indigenous Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe made global headlines on Monday when she heckled King Charles during his 16th official visit to Australia.
After the protest in the parliament, which shocked assembled lawmakers and other dignitaries, the 51-year-old has stoked another controversy after a beheaded cartoon featuring the monarch was posted on her social media and later deleted.
Let’s take a closer look.
The cartoon controversy
Taking to Instagram on Monday, Thorpe, an Aboriginal woman, shared a cartoon of King Charles beheaded.
Drawn by Matt Chun, the image said, “You are not our king.”
Thorpe later removed the cartoon and clarified in a statement that the image had been shared without her knowledge and that she would not encourage violence.
“Earlier tonight, without my knowledge, one of my staff shared an image to my Instagram stories created by another account, I deleted it as soon as I saw. I would not intentionally share anything that could be seen to encourage violence against anyone. That’s not what I’m about,” she posted.
Thorpe is renowned for high-profile protest action.
When she was affirmed as a senator in 2022, she wasn’t allowed to describe the then-monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
She briefly blocked a police float in Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by lying on the street in front of it.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsLast year, she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her abusing male patrons.
Also read: Who is Australian lawmaker Lidia Thorpe, who accused King Charles of genocide?
‘You are not our king’
During his visit to the Australian parliament earlier on Monday, Charles was accused of “genocide” by Thorpe.
He had finished speaking when Thorpe shouted that she did not accept Charles’ sovereignty over Australia.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted, adding, “Giving us over 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.”
She was later stopped from approaching the King, who spoke quietly to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the podium but was otherwise unfazed.
Thorpe was then escorted out of the chamber.
“F**k the colony. F**k the colony,” she said when she was removed.
Thorpe told Breakfast with Kay Burley she stood by her actions. “We are the real sovereigns in this country,” she said. “The King lives in your country, he’s from your country. He can’t be our King. We have our bones and our skulls still in his family’s possession. We want that back. We want our land back. And we want your King to take some leadership and sit at the table and discuss a treaty with us.”
Asked why she called him “genocidal,” Thorpe said, “There are thousands of massacre sites in this country from invasion and someone needs to answer for that. He is the successor, then he needs to answer.”
Thorpe added her outburst was for “global truth-telling about the royals who caused so much devastation — to not only your people in this country but Indigenous people around the world.”
Criticism
A number of well-known Indigenous activists have praised Thorpe’s stance, while others have denounced it.
Given its history, Bundjalung author and lawyer Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts argued there was “nothing more harmful or disrespectful” than first inviting the monarchy to visit the nation.
“When Thorpe speaks, she’s got the ancestors right with her.”
Thorpe’s actions were denounced by former senator and Aboriginal leader Nova Peris, who stated that she supports the cause of the Aboriginal people but refrains from “rude interruptions or public outbursts.”
“Senator Thorpe’s actions today do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation of Aboriginal Australians at large. They reflect only her, and it is important to clarify that the vast majority of us would not engage in this unconstructive confrontational way,” Peris wrote on X.
“I would like to extend my sincere apologies to King Charles III and Queen Camilla on behalf of all those who value mutual respect and the dignity of our nation. When King Charles visited Yolngu Country in 2018, he was welcomed with great respect and warmth by the traditional owners of the land, who honoured him with a traditional ceremony. That moment exemplified the kind of engagement we need – one where respect is earned and given in equal measure,” her post read.
Aunty Violet Sheridan, an Aboriginal elder who formally welcomed the King and Queen Camilla to Ngunnawal country, told the Guardian Australia: “Lidia Thorpe does not speak for me and my people, and I’m sure she doesn’t speak for a lot of First Nations people.”
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott from the conservative Liberal Party, who attended the event, told reporters it was an “unfortunate political exhibitionism.”
‘Call for resign’
According to Express UK, Thorpe’s outburst was deemed “disgusting and disgraceful” by the monarchists in Australia, who demanded for her resignation.
The Australian Monarchist League is looking at legal options to have her removed from the parliament, said Philip Benwell, the organisation’s national chairperson.
“I was actually standing close to Lidia Thorpe and was able to watch her every move. She is a person who openly declared, on taking her place in the Senate, that she would be faithful and bear true allegiance to the monarch. That she did so to be able to sit in the Senate is beside the point.”
He added, “The fact is that, for whatever reason, she declared her allegiance to King Charles and yet she has now screamed to the King in person ‘you are not my King.’”
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
