Are Australians more or less likely to vote for a republic?

The King of Australia (Charles III, in case of doubt), on his first visit as monarch, has been heckled by a senator, an extraordinary moment in the usually sedate proceedings of an official royal occasion.

- SEAN O'GRADY

At the conclusion of an address to both houses of the Australian parliament, Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal Australian and independent senator from the state of Victoria, told His Majesty: “This is not your land. You are not my King.” The incident has revived some sensitive feelings in the country about the status of Aboriginal and other First Nation peoples and, albeit to a lesser extent, the role of the monarchy. This royal visit, through no fault of the King and Queen, seems already to have aroused some controversy...

What does Senator Thorpe want?

Formerly a Green, Thorpe split from her party last year over disagreements about the proposal for a statutory consultative “Indigenous voice to parliament”. This was to be a formal advisory body specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to link them more closely to the remote federal parliament in Canberra. The idea was for a federal advisory body to comprise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to represent the views of Indigenous communities. The idea was rejected by 60 per cent to 40 per cent in a referendum a year ago.