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.
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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.