Senator Lidia Thorpe protests at reception for King Charles

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has suggested independent senator Lidia Thorpe should resign after shouting at the King and Queen during their royal reception at parliament house yesterday.

Transcript

00:00What a moment it was yesterday at the Great Hall here in Parliament House. King Charles

00:07finished his speech and Independent Senator Lydia Thorpe got up and launched that protest

00:13action. So far, reactions to it have been varied. We've seen some social media users

00:20praising Lydia Thorpe as brave, even the leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell, putting

00:28out a tweet saying she stands in solidarity with the Independent Senator. However, it's

00:33probably fair to say that the majority of reaction has been condemnation. We've seen

00:40on the front page of the Australian newspaper this morning, Marcia Langdon, saying that

00:46it was an embarrassing and shameful incident. We've seen government ministers from the Albanese

00:52government broadly labelling the action inappropriate. And opposition leader Peter Dutton saying

01:00that this was an act of self-promotion, going so far this morning as to suggest that it

01:06could be appropriate that Lydia Thorpe resign. Let's have a look at what Peter Dutton said

01:12and then what Lydia Thorpe said in response.

01:15I think people need to express themselves respectfully and sometimes people make it

01:19all about themselves and I think that's what yesterday was. It didn't advance anyone's

01:22cause and in fact there are many Indigenous leaders overnight who have condemned the actions

01:27and I don't intend to add to the self-promotion that she seeks.

01:33I really don't care what Dutton says. I'm in this job for another three and a half years

01:39and I'm not looking to be re-elected. I'm looking to get justice for my people.

01:45What Lydia Thorpe's protest was about, it was about treaty. It's a long-held position

01:50that she has. She would like to see a treaty. She famously left the Greens when the Voice

01:56to Parliament proposal referendum was before the Australian people because she was not

02:02in support of that. She's called for a treaty for a long time and basically that's what

02:07she was doing yesterday in Parliament House in this very public protest. Whether or not

02:13this is going to move that course forward, it's impossible to say, but what is clear

02:19is that she has got that issue into the media here and also internationally in the BBC,

02:28also the New York Times, covering this action from Lydia Thorpe. So Gemma, an unplanned

02:35moment in an otherwise pretty stage-managed visit from the Royals which continues today.

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