Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe has disrupted a parliamentary reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla by telling the monarch he is not her king.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” she called.
“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.
“You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want treaty.”
King Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as they sat on the podium while security officials stopped Senator Thorpe from approaching further and escorted her out of the Great Hall.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who attended the event, expressed his dismay at the protest.
“It’s unfortunate political exhibitionism, that’s all I’d say,” he said after the event.
Another of the guests, Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne, was highly critical of Senator Thorpe for disrupting the reception.
“I was absolutely amazed that she got through the door,” he said.
“That was uncalled for and un-Australian.”
Mr Payne, who was awarded the highest military honour for his service in Vietnam, was one of the guests who spoke with the King as the royal couple left the reception.
Senator Thorpe was a guest at the event.
Another guest, businessman Dick Smith, said the disruption was an aspect of Australian democracy.
“I think that’s the wonderful part of our democracy – that she’s not going to be put in jail,” he said.
Mr Smith has known the King for many years, including a meeting in 1982 when Mr Smith landed his helicopter on the grounds of Balmoral Castle in the United Kingdom.
The royal couple entered the hall after signing the Parliament House visitor book in the Marble Foyer, arriving to the sounds of a didgeridoo played by Bevan Smith, a local Indigenous man.
They were joined by federal and state members of parliament, eminent Australians and representatives from the King’s charities who assembled for the first event of its kind since Queen Elizabeth II attended a parliamentary reception in the Great Hall in 2011.
The King and Mr Albanese led the official party into the hall, while Queen Camilla was accompanied by the prime minister’s partner Jodie Haydon.
The procession included Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick and Senate president Sue Lines.
Reception guests included former prime minister John Howard and his wife Janette, horse trainer Gai Waterhouse, mining executive Andrew Forrest, Linfox founder Lindsay Fox, and Olympic kayaker and gold medallist Jess Fox.
The two Australians of the Year, Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, also attended.
Senior Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet greeted their majesties and guests with a welcome to country, joined by the Wiradjuri Echoes, a family-run group that teaches Indigenous dancing and culture.
The Australian National Anthem was sung by the Woden Valley Youth Choir in English and Ngunnawal.
In remarks that were televised live, the King paid tribute to the progress Australia had made since his first visit to the country in 1966.
Many of those assembled in the Great Hall raised their mobile phones to take photographs of the royal couple as they left the reception, while others smiled and thanked the King and Queen.
Their majesties walked to the forecourt of Parliament House to greet members of the public before proceeding to other events.
