Victoria judges dismiss bid to bring private prosecution against the King

Three judges at the Court of Appeal in Victoria have refused an application by Indigenous elder Robbie Thorpe to bring a private prosecution against His Majesty King Charles III.

The court dismissed his bid to start criminal proceedings in Melbourne. That was his third defeat.

Thorpe, 68, is an elder of the Krautatungalung people. The Indigenous activist has sought since 2023 to bring legal proceedings against the King in Melbourne, as reported by Royal Central.

A private prosecution, a criminal case brought by a private citizen rather than the public prosecutor, is the mechanism at the centre of the dispute. Thorpe sought to use it to allege that the King, alongside Australian government institutions, was responsible for genocide through systems which disadvantage Indigenous Australians.

The Court of Appeal, Victoria's intermediate appeal court, declined to allow the case to proceed. The dismissal follows two earlier refusals in Thorpe's efforts to get the matter before the courts.

For readers unfamiliar with the process, an appeal court does not decide guilt or innocence at this stage. It decides whether the applicant has a legal basis to bring the charge at all.

Thorpe has indicated he intends to continue. He could seek special permission to appeal to the High Court of Australia, the country's highest court, which hears only cases it agrees to take.

The bid was directed at Britain's King Charles III as sovereign, not in any private capacity. No findings have been made against the King. The courts have ruled only on whether the prosecution could be brought.

The latest decision was reported by ABC News on 29 September 2026, with further detail published on 4 October 2026.