Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has repeatedly yelled “shame on you all” during an official Senate censure motion at her fiery protest at a parliamentary ceremony for the King.

Thorpe, who was late getting to Canberra on Monday due to a delayed flight, appeared to enter the Senate chamber shortly after the motion against her was passed by 46-12 votes, interrupting loudly from the back.

Her words on the Senate live-stream are difficult to distinguish, but she appears to call out: “Why wasn’t I allowed to be here?”

“Shame on you all … I’ll do it again!” she can be heard saying.

“If [the King] comes back in, I’ll do it again.”

It follows Thorpe’s challenge to the King and Queen during a welcome reception at Parliament House on their royal tour in October.

The Indigenous senator claimed the monarch had “committed genocide against our people” and urged him to “give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people”.

Government leader Penny Wong said Thorpe’s outburst sought to “incite outrage and grievance”.

“This is part of a trend that we do see internationally which, quite frankly, we do not need here in Australia,” Wong told Parliament.

Wong said the censure vote signalled that Australian politicians should uphold standards of respect during visits by dignitaries.

Coalition Senate leader Simon Birmingham called Thorpe’s behaviour “disrespectful” and said politicians should use their platform with “respect and care”.

“This motion is not about what she said. It is not about her right to say it or her views. Those we defend,” he said.

“But it is about the conduct that was undertaken, the disruptive, disorderly and disrespectful approach that reflected so poorly upon all Senators in this chamber and brought us into disrepute. That is why it is worthy and warranted of censure.”

But Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi decried the motion and called on politicians to listen to the concerns of Indigenous Australians.

“The bubble of white privilege that encapsulates this Parliament is a systemic issue,” she said.

“That’s why we are here today, debating a black senator being censured for telling the truth of the British crown’s genocide on First Nations people and telling it the way she wants to.”

Thorpe faced the media after the censure reprimand, vowing to keep telling the truth.

“You’re not going to shut me down,” she said.

“I don’t give a damn about a censure motion – in fact, I’m going to use it for kindling.”

This censure motion shows where the major parties priorities lie.

They don’t stand with First Peoples in this country. They stand against justice for our people, preferring instead to defend a foreign king, rather than listen to the truth. pic.twitter.com/e925yEqNyX

— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) November 18, 2024

Babet censured for ‘repugnant’ tweet

Also on the Senate’s agenda on Monday was a similar censure motion against another Victorian senator, Ralph Babet.

It follows a vile tweet from Babet last week with demeaning slurs aimed at people of colour, those with disability and the LGBT community.

Birmingham said it was “repugnant, abhorrent, and [had] no place in proper, orderly, civil conduct and debate in 2024”.

Babet also missed the motion on Monday, due to a delayed flight.

That sparked concern from Nationals senator Matt Canavan. He said Babet was a “mate”, but he was worried that neither Babet nor Thorpe was there to defend themselves.

Wong said the motions were about “protecting the institution” of the Senate. She said the majority of the senators were present.

“We have to make a decision about expressing a view about what behaviours are appropriate in the expressions of those views, and in relation to Senator Babet, whether in 2024 the sorts of views he’s articulated – which are frankly hateful – about our fellow Australians, are something we should be condoning as a Senate. I for one, do not,” she said.

The Babet motion also passed.

Babet, who said he was still at Melbourne Airport, later texted a statement to The Guardian.

“The radical authoritarian left has taken offence for a tweet which did not mention, target or reference any individual. Maybe they should have considered censuring my colleagues who regularly and consistently direct abuse and vitriol towards other people and our great nation,” he wrote.

“The selective outrage and hypocrisy from the far left is far more offensive to the general public than my simple tweet.”

Neither motion has any practical effect; they are merely an expression of the Senate’s official disapproval.

-with AAP