EDITORIAL: Senator Lidia Thorpe’s exploits do nothing to further her cause

How far is Lidia Thorpe willing to go?

The Greens defector has no hope of another term in the Senate, and she knows it.

That means she has nothing to lose. So in her remaining time in Parliament, she will be as disruptive, as belligerent, as troublesome as she possibly can be.

And Australians need to figure out how to deal with her.

Speaking on Radio National after her stunt in confronting King Charles during a reception in Parliament House’s Great Hall, Senator Thorpe was unrepentant.

“I’m not looking to be re-elected, I’m looking to get justice for my people,” she said.

“I will be there for another three years, everybody. So, you know, get used to truth-telling.”

Senator Thorpe is a professional disruptor. Controversy and offence are her stock in trade.

Her Parliament House stunt on Monday — accusing the King of being a “genocidalist”, demanding a treaty and shouting “f..k the colony” as she was led away — was not her first rodeo.

She continually disrupts Parliament with her silly interventions and loud-mouthed rants. She is persistent and belligerent.

She knows how to generate a headline.

But what do her attention-seeking exploits accomplish further than that?

Unsurprisingly, King Charles did not whip out a pen to ink a treaty with Indigenous people on the spot. It is not his place to do so anyway. Nor did he get on the phone to the British Museum to arrange the return of the thousands of Aboriginal artefacts it holds.

It is revealing that many high-profile Indigenous Australians reacted to Senator Thorpe’s outburst with dismay. Professor Marcia Langton said the stunt was “embarrassing and shameful” and offered an apology to Charles and Camilla.

“I do hope that the King and the Queen and others will not feel that this is the view of Indigenous Australians; far from it,” Professor Langton said.

“The majority of Indigenous Australians ... have had a respectful relationship with the monarchy, including the late Queen and Prince Philip.” Australia has a complicated, sometimes dark, history.

That many Australians — Indigenous and non-Indigenous — have mixed feelings towards the visit by the King and Queen is understandable.

Charles is a symbol of the Crown. In the mind of Senator Thorpe and other radicals, he is also a symbol of dispossession and disadvantage.

Like all Australians, she has a right to protest. Good for her. But her presence on the national stage, and her access to power and prominence are far beyond what is appropriate for the marginal point of view she represents.

She is a fringe player given far too great a voice by the Greens, who unleashed her on the Senate, gave her a platform and set her free to rage.

She should have a voice. But not in our parliament. We should all be concerned by what stunts and worse she will get up to in her remaining years in parliament.