As soon as Lydia Thorpe confirmed her attendance at the royal reception in Parliament, it must have been clear that there was going to be a backlash from those responsible for protocol.
Perhaps this is the reason why the king, queen and their hosts entered the great hall through a door behind the stage, and instead of going directly from the hall, they passed through the central hall and to the right of where Thorpe wore the shoulder dress. . A first stage before a group of parliamentarians who were waiting.
But creating operational change will never completely prevent conflict, and this visit could completely erase the sense that Australia's relationship with the monarchy symbolizes the country's past rather than its future.
Thorpe's outburst may increase sympathy for the royal family among Australians, who are ambivalent about the monarchy but believe it should be courteous to guests. The reception was warm and genuine, with few republican banners, from the majority of those who packed the streets and Parliament to see them pass.
That particular elephant sauntered into the reception among the guests sipping champagne and trying to take sneaky selfies, albeit less dramatically than the so-called national sovereign.
“You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Anthony Albanese told the king, adding an oblique reference to unfinished business. from Australia. “Nothing stops.”
Only Peter Dutton was willing to confront the nation's seemingly increasingly lukewarm separatist tendencies head-on, only to be the butt of a joke in the presence of a monarch.
“So far, we hope you have been lifted by the response you received from this select crowd yesterday in Sydney, today at the War Memorial and, indeed, in this room,” Dutton told the king from the podium.
“People have cut their hair, cleaned their shoes, ironed their suits. And those are just the Republicans.
Australia's constitutional future does not feature even obliquely in King Charles's comments: a good sign that he recognizes it is at a boiling point.
However, it relied on some other issues that caused internal political pain in the Antipodes. He acknowledged the “unmistakable signs of climate change” and the need to address them and not ignore them, and praised Australia for “charting a path to a better, safer future.”
Minutes after his protest, Thorpe also acknowledged what he described as the country's “long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation.” Respecting the knowledge of the first peoples, he linked both issues.
“We are all interested in being good stewards of the world and good ancestors of those who will come after us,” he said. “Because we are all connected to the global community and to everything that sustains life. That is the timeless wisdom of tribal people around the world.
“The horrors of war, death, and needless destruction” led King to declare that “this moment in our history demands old and new thinking.”
It is certainly a challenge for a king who descends into a remote and somewhat dark corner of his empire, armed with nostalgia, empathy and political conviction.
Lydia Thorpe burst that warm bubble on Monday, taking the stage and leaning in to whisper an agreement while Keith Albanese and his fiancée, Jodie Hayden, were close in her majestic ears.
If Thorpe's protest does nothing else, it is a reminder that while tradition may no longer go unchallenged in this country, there is still a long way to go to resolve our identity, and a strong, angry voice can be much more embarrassing than interrupting a party.
