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Australian senators vote to censure indigenous colleague who called out British monarch

SENATORS in Australia yesterday voted to censure an indigenous colleague who yelled at King Charles III during a reception in Parliament House last month.

The censure of independent Senator Lidia Thorpe is a symbolic gesture that records her colleagues’ disapproval of her conduct.

Government leader in the Senate Penny Wong said Ms Thorpe’s outburst sought to “incite outrage and grievance.”

During the parliamentary reception for the British monarch last month, Ms Thorpe yelled: “You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” as she was led by security guards from the reception.

“You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us: our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.”

Following her censure, Ms Thorpe said: “If the colonising king were to come to my country again, our country, then I’ll do it again.

“And I will keep doing it. I will resist colonisation in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands: first peoples are the real sovereigns. You don’t have some random king rock up and say he’s sovereign.”

Green Party Senator Mehreen Faruqi opposed the censure, saying the parliament was “debating a black senator being censured for telling the truth of the British crown’s genocide on first nations people and telling it the way she wants to.”

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