14 hours ago
Australian senator who heckled King makes rude gesture at Buckingham Palace
An Australian senator who heckled the King has courted controversy again by making a rude gesture outside Buckingham Palace.
Lidia Thorpe made headlines around the world last October when she interrupted a reception for the King and Queen during their visit to parliament house in Canberra, yelling 'f--- the colony', 'this is not your land' and 'you are not our King'.
In London this week to attend a conference, the indigenous senator wore a 'blak sovereign movement' T-shirt and held up an Aboriginal flag outside the gates of the Palace.
She posed for a photograph making a rude gesture with her middle finger, which she shared on social media with the caption: 'Dropped by to collect all the stuff this lot stole, but Charlie wasn't in.'
The post sparked division among her followers, with some asking whether the UK visit was being funded as a work trip.
One responded: 'Do you know you don't speak for Australia. We actually can't stand you – I personally look forward to your term ending in the Senate.'
Ms Thorpe was censured by the Australian parliament last November, with a motion passed by 46 votes to 12. It condemned her actions as 'disruptive and disrespectful', but there were no further constitutional ramifications.
The Senate said it no longer regarded it 'appropriate' for her to be a member of any delegation 'during the life of this parliament'.
Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, said Ms Thorpe's behaviour was not of the standard 'Australians rightly expect of parliamentarians'.
But after the censure motion was passed, the senator said she did not 'give a damn' about it. She tore up the piece of paper while being interviewed by ABC TV, and said that she would use it 'as kindling'.
She vowed to repeat her actions if the King and Queen ever returned to Australia, saying: '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,' she said.
Moments before her protest, the King had delivered a speech in which he paid his 'respects to the traditional owners' of Australia. He was said to be 'unruffled' and determined not to let it spoil a 'wonderful day'.
