Slavery apology on agenda as King flies from one controversy to another

Political leaders are planning to press the United Kingdom for a formal apology for slavery at a Commonwealth summit in Samoa this week, when King Charles III presides over the talks just days after hearing a rebuke from Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe over colonisation.

Commonwealth leaders also want the UK to pay reparations for slavery despite a clear signal from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he will not agree to the contentious demand.

The clash over the history of the British Empire sets up a tense discussion at the summit, which is held every two years and is expected to be attended by leaders from 56 member states, when differences on climate change are also on the agenda.

King Charles III left Sydney for the Samoan capital of Apia on Wednesday morning to attend the meeting, which he will lead for the first time as sovereign and as head of the Commonwealth.

All three candidates to become the next Commonwealth secretary-general have declared their support for reparations for slavery and colonisation, ensuring the issue stays on the agenda after a vote this week to decide who gets the post.

One of the candidates, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Botchwey, said, “I stand for reparations”, at a debate in London last month, while another candidate, Gambian diplomat and politician Mamadou Tangara, told the same event he fully supported reparations.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave Sydney for Apia on Wednesday morning.Credit: Getty Images

The other candidate, former trade and industry minister Joshua Setipa of Lesotho, has said the reparations should not only be about slavery but also the responsibility for climate change.

Thorpe confronted the King over colonial history at the parliamentary reception in Parliament House on Monday, telling him he shared responsibility for genocide against First Australians and had no sovereignty on Indigenous land.

“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” she called, before she was led away by security staff. “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back.”

Pacific leaders have not bought into the slavery debate, however, and observers in Apia said the demands for reparations might not make any progress as climate change would take priority at this year’s CHOGM.

Australian National University honorary professor Matthew Neuhaus, a former diplomat who is in Apia for civil society forums, said: “The Caribbean nations may pursue it with the British, and it could be bigger at the next CHOGM in 2026 in Antigua, but it is not getting traction in the Pacific.”

Samoan Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa has named climate change as a key issue for the meeting and is backed by the Commonwealth secretary-general, Patricia Scotland, who steps down at the end of the summit.

King Charles used his speech in Canberra on Monday to signal his support for greater action on climate change.

“It is in all our interests to be good stewards of the world, and good ancestors to those who come after us,” he said.

Members of the Samoan Police Force await the arrival of the King and Queen in Apia. Credit: Getty Images

The King expressed his sorrow to Commonwealth leaders when calls for an apology for slavery arose at the last CHOGM, held in Rwanda two years ago.

“I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact,” he said then.

Buckingham Palace has also supported a review into the monarchy’s link to slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese plans to fly to Apia on Thursday to attend the welcome reception later that day and the talks on Friday and Saturday.

“It is a particularly special occasion to be in Samoa, together with so many Commonwealth counterparts and His Majesty The King, in the 75th year of the Commonwealth,” he said in a statement.

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