The Senate has censured Lidia Thorpe for her protest against King Charles last month, and fellow senator Ralph Babet has been handed the same reprimand for “abhorrent” racist language.
Thorpe, a proud Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, was condemned by the upper house this morning for her “disrespectful and disruptive” actions, but the independent senator said the motion wouldn’t deter her from future protests.
“If the colonising king were to come to my country again, our country, then I’ll do it again,” she told reporters afterwards.
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“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 later ripped up a copy of the motion, saying “I don’t give a damn about (the) censure motion. In fact, I’m going to use it for kindling later on in the week”.
However, she criticised that, for “standing up against the colony”, she was handed the same reprimand that Babet received for his “very racist and disrespectful comments”.
“So I think that again is the racism of the chamber,” she said.
Thorpe had interrupted proceedings after King Charles had addressed Parliament House, saying “give us our land back”, “not your land” and “you are not my king. You are not our king”.
She also called for the king to “give us a treaty”, and said “f— the colony” as she was escorted out of the Great Hall.
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Babet reprimanded for ‘repugnant’ remarks
United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet was also censured this morning, in his case for “inflammatory use of hate speech, designed to drive division for his own political benefit”.
As part of the motion, the government and opposition affirmed “Australians that no matter their race, religion, gender, sex, or sexuality that they are valued, welcome members of our society”.
The reprimand came after Babet used racist and other discriminatory language in a number of posts on X last week.
9News.com.au has decided not to publish the contents of those tweets.
Senior opposition senator Simon Birmingham labelled Babet’s comments ”repugnant (and) abhorrent”, while Foreign Minister Penny Wong said they were “frankly hateful about our fellow Australians”.
Neither Thorpe nor Babet were in the Senate when they were censured, both running late for the final sitting fortnight of the year due to Qantas flight delays and cancellations.
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Thorpe arrived shortly after the motion was held against her, and was heard calling out “Why wasn’t I allowed to be here? Shame on you all”.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan voted against the motions because Thorpe and Babet weren’t present.
“I would have supported the censure motions this morning but the government has brought them on without the senators here to hear the arguments against them or defend themselves,” he wrote on X.
“This can only be described as a kangaroo court process.
“We have unfortunately cheapened what should be one of the more serious actions the Senate can take.”
While censure motions typically have few practical impacts, today’s may bar Thorpe from being part of an upcoming parliamentary visit to Fiji and Tuvalu.
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