Australian senate censures Indigenous lawmaker who yelled at King Charles III

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian senators on Monday voted to censure an Indigenous colleague who yelled at King Charles III during a reception in Parliament House last month.

The censure of independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe is a symbolic gesture that records her colleagues' disapproval of her conduct during the first visit to Australia by a British monarch in 13 years.

The motion was carried 46 votes to 12.

Government leader in the Senate Penny Wong said Thorpe's outburst sought to ''incite outrage and grievance.''

''This is part of a trend that we do see internationally which, quite frankly, we do not need here in Australia,'' Wong told the Senate.

Thorpe launched an expletive-laden rant at Charles following his speech during his visit to Canberra and Sydney.

''You are not our king. You are not sovereign,'' Thorpe yelled at Charles as she was led by security guards from the reception.

Following her censure, Thorpe said she would repeat her rant if Charles returned.

''If the colonizing king were to come to my country again, our country, then I'll do it again,'' Thorpe told reporters.

''And I will keep doing it. I will resist colonization 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,'' she added.

Sen. Mehreen Faruqi, a member of the minor Greens party, opposed the censure motion.

''The bubble of white privilege that encapsulates this parliament is a systemic issue,'' Faruqi said. ''That's why we are here today, 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."