AUSTRALIA (AFP) — King Charles III was greeted with harsh words by an Indigenous Australian senator on Monday after she declared the British monarch was “not my king.” The visibly upset senator lashed out while King Charles finished a speech at Parliament House in Australia.

According to an article from NBC News, the king, who is the first reigning British monarch to visit Australia in 13 years, was addressing lawmakers and other dignitaries in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra, the Australian capital. His five-day visit along with Queen Camilla, comes as the Commonwealth country debates severing ties with the British monarchy.

“You are not our king. You are not our sovereign. You committed genocide against our people,” Lidia Thorpe, an independent senator from the southeastern state of Victoria, shouted. “Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people! You destroyed our land!”

Thorpe was later ushered out of the building by security officers.

According to NBC, Thorpe who spoke to reporters outside of Parliament, said “we’ll continue to resist the colony until we have a peacemaking treaty where we can celebrate this country together. We don’t need a king from another country to dictate to us what we do here.”

Australia was under British colonial rule for over a century. In a landmark referendum last year, all six states in Australia voted against recognising Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establishing a body to advise Parliament on Indigenous matters.

Australia became a fully independent country in 1986 but remains a constitutional monarchy in which the British monarch serves as the head of state, a role that is largely symbolic.

In a 1999 referendum, a majority of Australians voted against transitioning to a republic.