Thorpe removed from reception after yelling ‘you stole from us’ at kingKaren MiddletonThe independent senator Lidia Thorpe has been removed from a parliamentary reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla after yelling “this is not your country” and “you are not my king” and “fuck the colony”.After King Charles concluded his speech, Thorpe walked up the aisle towards the stage, yelling at the royal couple.“You stole from us,” she shouted, as officials stepped forward to stop her reaching the stage.
… You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country.
As security officers escorted Thorpe back to the door, she shouted:
This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king.
As she left the hall and was forced back into the foyer she could be heard shouting: “Fuck the colony.”Senator Lidia Thorpe yells during the reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House on Monday. Photograph: Victoria Jones/ReutersShareUpdated at 06.56 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureNatasha MayBack to the Senate community affairs committee hearing on the new aged care bill, the department of health and aged care says more support for in home care is needed for all Australians who’ve been traumatised through institutions.Andrea Kelly from the department was speaking about the wish of many First Nations elders to stay on country. Kelly said she has conducted over 135 consultations and met with around 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as peak bodies and providers around issues of cultural safety.Kelly said:
People want to stay at home, they don’t want to go into residential aged care, and that’s particularly true for Stolen Generation survivors, veterans and members of the LGBQTI community that I’ve met with.
Kelly agreed that greater in home supports would need to be provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community – and other Australians who have experienced sexual child abuse:
While my conversations have been specific with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, I think that model of care we need to think about for all Australians who’ve been traumatised through institutions.
ShareUpdated at 08.33 CESTKing watches ‘bushfire’ during CSIRO lab visitKing Charles has toured the CSIRO’s National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory, where he viewed a “Pyrotron” demonstration.The seven-minute demonstration replicated a bushfire in a 29-metre-long combustion wind tunnel.The experiment is used to better understand bushfire behaviour and effective methods to suppress it, senior research scientist Matt Plucinski said.The king was invited to start the experiment as he met with researchers and CSIRO head Doug Hilton, receiving a briefing about how quickly the fires could spread.The eucalyptus smoke was “the smell of science”, Hilton joked with the king.King Charles views the Pyroton fire demonstration at the CSIRO lab in Canberra. Photograph: Aaron Chown/ReutersOutside, an ACT Rural Fire Service engine doused itself during a “burn over drill”, demonstrating how firefighters stuck in the truck in the middle of a fire storm would survive the worst of the blistering inferno.The king was introduced to five volunteer firefighters before they started the drill, forcing him to take a slight step back as he was sprayed with a light mist due to the breeze. He told reporters as he left the site after the drill:
It was very encouraging to see what they can do.
He asked the firefighters about the differences between bushfires in the northern and southern hemispheres, including comparisons with Canada.It was King Charles’ second visit to a CSIRO Canberra site, the first being February 1966, when the young prince toured the wildlife research division.ShareUpdated at 08.29 CESTMultiple arrests made during king’s visit to ACTACT police made multiple arrests in Canberra in relation to the visit of King Charles today.At about 11am, a 62-year-old man was arrested at the Australian War Memorial for breach of the peace.He was taken to the ACT watch house, where he signed an undertaking to keep the peace and was released without charge, police said.A second arrest was made about 11.30am, when police arrested a 21-year-old woman for failing to comply with a police direction, police said.She was charged and she faced ACT magistrates court this afternoon.Police said “several” other arrests were made at the Australian War Memorial – those people were later released without charge.In relation to an “interaction” with Senator Lidia Thorpe at the memorial, police said:
This morning, police spoke to a protest group near the Australian War Memorial.
The group was directed to move on from the area and they complied with that direction.
No arrests were made and police consider the matter finalised.
ShareUpdated at 08.30 CESTNatasha MayOne-hour cap on household services for older people is due to budget, official saysBack to the Senate community affairs committee hearing, where the Department of Health and Aged Care has affirmed the goal of the new aged care bill will be to have people ageing at home for longer.Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne has raised why there is a one-hour cap on services to help older people clean their houses, including gardening, which was raised as a serious issue – alongside the lack of gardening services – preventing people staying at home longer.Allman-Payne gave the example of older renters being subject to eviction because of their inability to maintain the garden to a standard the landlord deems acceptable.Nick Morgan, from the department, said there was a one-hour cap on household services because of the need to retain budget for personal care and clinical services.ShareUpdated at 08.08 CESTAndrew MessengerQueensland LNP candidate says sorry for Nazi jokeQueensland LNP candidate Bree James has apologised for making a Nazi joke in a Facebook post.On Saturday, the Barron River candidate posted an image of herself beside an election banner which had been vandalised with a spray painted moustache in the style of Adolf Hitler.“Even the banner is getting in the spirit and celebrating my German heritage”, she said, in the post advertising the city’s German festival.She apologised on the weekend, and again on Monday when Labor’s campaign bus visited her pre-poll booth.Bree James, an LNP candidate in the Queensland election. Photograph: Darren England/AAPJames reportedly told the cameras the post was a joke in poor taste that she had apologised for “and I hope people can forgive me”.On Monday, Labor opponent Craig Crawford said James is “unfit for office”.
Bree James is unfit for office, and people should not be voting for her in the upcoming election. David Crisafulli should have cut her then and then. I’m pretty sure that if I had done something stupid like that, I certainly would have offered my position up to the premier.
LNP leader David Crisafulli said on Monday that he’d spoken to his candidate and “I’ve expressed my view to her very clearly.“Is this acceptable? It’s not. It’s disappointing, it’s wrong, it’s not funny”, he said.ShareUpdated at 08.02 CESTAustralian Monarchist League demands Thorpe resignThe Australian Monarchist League is demanding the resignation of Senator Lidia Thorpe after her “failed attempt to disrupt His Majesty the King” at Parliament House this afternoon.In a statement, the league’s national chairman, Philip Benwell, said:
Senator Thorpe should step down with immediate effect.
The Australian Monarchist League unequivocally condemns the ill-considered behaviour of this isolated senator.
Her childish demonstration has done nothing to diminish the gratitude and pride that millions of Australians have for our country, its history, its peoples and its sound system of governance. In fact, it has likely only strengthened these feelings.
Should she not resign, the league is calling for Thorpe’s “misconduct” to be addressed “in accordance with what is the obvious and prevailing public sentiment.”ShareUpdated at 07.54 CESTAlbanese’s $4.3m home buy not a good look, ex-Tory MP saysRory Stewart, former Tory MP and co-host of the The Rest is News podcast, says Anthony Albanese’s purchase of a multimillion-dollar home on the New South Wales Central Coast “doesn’t look great”.“The idea of buying luxury mansions doesn’t look great when you’re a leftwing leader,” he told David Speers, host of ABC Insiders, in an interviewed aired on Afternoon Briefing.
Keir Starmer’s popularity ratings are tanking because he’s getting wealthy donors to buy him fancy spectacles and clothes for his wife. And Boris Johnson was not helped by having or putting £100,000 wallpaper on his walls. David Cameron understood this and deliberately cut his salary when he came in as prime minister … travelled on EasyJet.
Rory Stewart. Photograph: Gary Calton/The ObserverWhen asked if it is fair to say voters don’t like to see their prime ministers getting anything, other than being paid, he said:
That’s true, and as a working politician, I often was resentful of that. I remember that there were times when I felt like saying to voters: ‘Listen, it would be better if we returned if you like to the British parliament of the early 20th century where MPs didn’t receive salaries and we’ll just work for free for you!’ But, of course, there are problems with doing that too.
When asked whether the coarseness of Trumpian politics were permeating the political culture in the Anglosphere, he said he had noticed the “dead cat strategy” in effect:
Which is – if somebody is focusing on some scandal, something that you’ve got wrong, you just slap a dead cat on the table and move on.
ShareUpdated at 07.57 CESTThorpe says she intended to hand king ‘a notice of complicity in genocide’Senator Lidia Thorpe has released a statement following her remarks to the king in Parliament House this afternoon.She said she intended to hand “a notice of complicity in the genocide of the First Peoples of this county” to King Charles.The senator’s uncle, Robert Thorpe, issued the same notice to the international criminal court on 13 October, according to the statement.She said:
Today I intended to hand King Charles a notice of complicity in the genocide of the First Peoples of this county. Krauatungalung elder, Uncle Robbie Thorpe, issued this notice to the international criminal court on October 13 this year, requesting King Charles be charged and prosecuted for genocide.
The visit by the so-called king should be an occasion of truth-telling about the true history of this country.The colonial state has been built on the continuing genocide on First Peoples.
Today I was silenced and removed from the parliamentary reception when pointing out that the Crown stole from First Peoples.
Senator Lidia Thorpe during her protest at the parliamentary reception for the king and queen in Canberra. Photograph: Victoria Jones/Reuters
The truth is, this colony is built on stolen land, stolen wealth and stolen lives.
The British Crown committed heinous crimes against the First Peoples of this country. These crimes include war crimes, crimes against humanity and failure to prevent genocide. There has been no justice for these crimes. The Crown must be held accountable.
Today, the AFP threatened to arrest me for wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Stolen Land, Stolen Lives, Stolen Wealth’. I was at a rally to call out the crimes committed by the Crown. This is a clear attack on free speech and expression, at the war memorial of all places.
Sovereign elder Uncle Coco was arrested by AFP today for peacefully standing up against the genocide on his people and all First Peoples of this continent.
This colonial government will punish our elders for protesting against a genocide but refuse to hold the perpetrators to account.
Today we call for justice, an end to this ongoing genocide, for treaty and a republic. We want to be able to live in peace and finally come together as a nation.
ShareUpdated at 07.45 CESTNatasha May‘Spectrum of supported decision-making’ in new aged care bill, department saysOlder Australians will be supported to make decisions for themselves for as long as possible under the new aged care bill, the Department of Health and Aged Care said this afternoon when answering questions from the Senate standing committee on community affairs on the bill.Mel Metz, the assistant secretary of the legislative reform branch in the department, said – after peak bodies representing older people advocated strongly for including supported decision-making arrangements in the bill – that the model on which the framework was based came from an Australian Law Reform Commission report as well as more recent endorsement through the disability royal commission.
Supported decision-making recognises capacity to make decision is not black and white, and it exists on a spectrum and can fluctuate, and that’s especially true in aged care for people with dementia.
What supported decision-making means is that rather than substituting a new decision-maker when a person’s decision-making capacity diminishes, people are supported to make decisions for themselves for as long as possible.
There’s a single concept of supporter rather than a dual representative and supporter framework in the bill – recognising that capacity isn’t static and that a person might need different levels of assistance day to day.
Drawing on state and territory arrangements in place, “there is a substitute decision-making in the bill – but that’s at the very end of that spectrum of supported decision-making for people who absolutely cannot make decisions even with support”.ShareUpdated at 07.33 CESTThorpe’s behaviour ‘alienated a lot of people’ – Labor MPOver to Afternoon Briefing, where – you guessed it – the king and queen are on the agenda.Speaking with the ABC, the assistant minister to the prime minister, Patrick Gorman, who is responsible for much of the planning behind the king’s whistle-stop tour, commented on Lidia Thorpe’s remarks shouted to the king at the state reception in Parliament House’s Great Hall.
I thought that behaviour was pretty inappropriate. I think that it alienated a lot of people. And I think most of the Australian public expect that their members and senators behave with dignity, especially at these formal state occasions.
I can’t speak for the Senate, they are in charge of their own members and their own disciplinary procedures. What I hope is that this doesn’t detract from the fact that it was an incredibly warm reception for the king and the queen. There was clearly a lot of people in the room who were really honoured to have been invited to that very special occasion.
As you said, the first time that we’ve had a king of Australia in fact visit Australia, and what we saw in the king’s remarks were his warm affection for this country – a country that he came here as a student. He’s visited 17 times. And I think that he really went out of his way, not just to talk about the causes that were important to him, such as climate change, but also to talk about his great appreciation of the respect that First Nations Australians have shown him on those visits.
ShareUpdated at 07.18 CESTKing’s visit ‘difficult for many First Nations people’, Greens senator saysGreens senator Dorinda Cox says the visit of King Charles III is a reminder of colonialism’s “harrowing injustices”.The Yamatji-Noongar woman said on Monday – before Senator Lidia Thorpe’s comments disrupted a state reception in Canberra – that the federal Truth and Justice Commission Bill, introduced by the Greens, would allow for First Nations-led, trauma-informed truth telling to fully implement all pillars of the Uluru statement from the heart.In a statement, Cox said:
This visit will be difficult for many First Nations people, who still feel the injustice every day of colonialism, especially our stolen generations, which are perpetuated through systemic and structural racism and discrimination. Visiting memorials and attending charity events is not changing the harrowing injustices and ongoing unacceptable rates of deaths of our people in Australia.
First Nations justice, truth telling and healing needs to be a priority. The king should be clear in his recognition and support of this. He now needs to be on the right side of history. We need the Labor government to have clear instructions from their sovereign head that we can’t continue on this path if we want peace and healing, this comes with accepting responsibility for the role, actions and destructive impacts of the Crown.
Greens senator Dorinda Cox: ‘The impact of policies rooted in colonial attitudes … has left deep scars.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPCox went on to say:
I invite the king to reflect on this and that sovereignty that was never ceded. There is trauma and grief for First Nations people. He needs to hear this and acknowledge it. The commonwealth has nothing to fear from this formal recognition.
First Nations communities continue to feel the impact of policies rooted in colonial attitudes – such as forced removals, land and resources theft, and systemic discrimination – that has left deep scars that we need to heal from. We cannot do this without truth telling and truth listening.
The time is now. It’s time to respect our inherent, sovereign right to self-determination, including the protection and preservation of our lands and waters – under our custodianship. Ensuring Australia’s First Peoples are consulted in every vital decision about our shared future.
ShareUpdated at 07.25 CESTEmily WindWatt welcomes compensation ruling on illegal Qantas sackingsThe workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, has welcomed the federal court decision for Qantas to compensate workers found to be illegally sacked during the pandemic.In a post to X, Watt wrote:
I congratulate [the Transport Workers Union] for pursuing this case in the Federal Court. I also congratulate Qantas’ new management team for taking a more cooperative approach to workplace relations, which is delivering for the company and its workers alike.
ShareUpdated at 06.47 CESTTony Abbott says ‘unfortunate political exhibitionism’ from Lidia ThorpeFormer prime minister Tony Abbott, who attended the event, expressed his dismay at Lidia Thorpe’s remarks to the King in the Great Hall.“It’s unfortunate political exhibitionism, that’s all I’d say,” he said after 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.
Smith has known the king for many years, including a meeting in 1982 when Smith landed his helicopter on the grounds of Balmoral Castle in the UK.ShareUpdated at 06.54 CESTCatie McLeodSewage theory investigated after Sydney beach tar balls The sewage theory floated as an explanation for the “tar balls” that closed eastern Sydney beaches last week has not been ruled out by the lead agency investigating the source of the pollution.In a statement this afternoon, a spokesperson for NSW Maritime said:
Investigations are continuing, with a number of samples still being tested by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.An update will be provided once the origin is definitively known.
Workers in protective clothing clean up tar balls washed up on Coogee beach last week. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPAOn Friday, Jon Beves, a chemistry expert from University of New South Wales who is part of a team of scientists analysing the debris, told Guardian Australia the “most logical answer” was that the balls were formed from crude oil.However, he said the balls also contained other greasy materials including fatty acids which meant they potentially had come from a sewage outflow instead of an oil spill or leak off the coast.Later that same day, the NSW Maritime executive director, Mark Hutchings, said:
Based on advice from the EPA, we can now confirm the balls are made up of fatty acids, chemicals consistent with those found in cleaning and cosmetic products, mixed with some fuel oil.
They are not harmful when on the ground, but should not be touched or picked up.
ShareUpdated at 06.53 CESTFull transcript of Thorpe yelling at King CharlesKaren MiddletonThank you, Emily Wind. Let’s get on with the rest of the day’s breaking news.Over in Canberra, our team has pieced together the full transcript of senator Lidia Thorpe’s remarks to King Charles at a state reception in the Great Hall at Parliament House a short time ago:
You are not our king. You are not sovereign. You are not our king. You are not sovereign.
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 a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist. This is not your land. This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king.
Fuck the colony. Fuck the colony. Fuck the colony.
ShareUpdated at 06.23 CESTEmily WindMany thanks for joining me on the blog today, Daisy Dumas will be with you for the next little while. Take care.ShareHere’s another angle of Lidia Thorpe’s protest in parliament house earlier this afternoon, where she shouted following King Charles’ speech:Share