King Charles and Queen Camilla lay wreaths at Australian War Memorial then greet well-wishers

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — King Charles III was confronted with anti-monarchist sentiment and Indigenous protest during his Australian visit on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who wants Australia to become a republic with an Australian head of state, and opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants the British king to remain Australia’s monarch, both brought up the republic debate during a reception for the king and Queen Camilla in Parliament House in the national capital Canberra.

“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,” Albanese said. “Nothing stands still.”

Dutton’s more tongue-in-cheek address said people were honored to attend the royals’ reception, despite disagreement over the monarchy’s future role in Australia.

“People have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been pressed and that’s just the republicans,” Dutton quipped, referring to supporters of a republic.

All six state government leaders underscored the political divide on Australia’s constitutional relationship with Britain by declining invitations to attend the reception. All six would prefer an Australian citizen was Australia’s head of state. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the royals had been snubbed.

Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen.

“Let me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning’s moving Welcome to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years,” Charles said.

“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” Charles added.

Following Charles’ speech, Indigenous independent Senator Lidia Thorpe protested that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones.

“This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the hall.

Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch.

Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if his center-left Labor Party is re-elected at elections due by May next year.

Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.

The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary.

“Whether Australia becomes a republic is ... a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the Buckingham Palace letter said.

Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla had laid wreaths at the Australian War Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit.

The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple.

Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to a scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles’ 17th trip to Australia and the first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the distant nation in 2011.

Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House.

Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet hundreds of people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags. The temperature was forecast to reach a mild high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.