Australian senator criticised for referring to the Queen as ‘coloniser’
A recently-elected Australian senator landed into a controversy after referring to the Queen of England as the “coloniser” during her swearing-in ceremony.
Lidia Thorpe, a lawmaker of Aboriginal origin from Australia’s Victoria province, was not present in the parliament when the rest of the members took oath last week and hence was sworn in on Monday, reported The Guardian. In a video shared online, she is seen approaching the Senate floor with her right f in the air before reciting the pledge.
“I, sovereign Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said.
However, she was criticised for it, with an unidentified lawmaker saying, “You’re not a senator if you don’t do it properly.” Several other members too are heard protesting Thorpe’s take.
Following this, Labor party president Sue Lines, in the Chair, paused for quiet, and asked Thrope to re-recite the oath verbatim.
Lidia Thorpe, a Djab Wurrung and Gunnai Gunditjmara senator with Australia’s Green Party, called the country’s symbolic head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, a colonizer while taking her oath of office pic.twitter.com/phS9lUcsDp
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 2, 2022
“You are required to recite the oath as printed on the card, so please recite the oath,” she told Thorpe.
Thorpe is then seen repeating the oath, but with sarcastic stress on the words “sincerely” and “declare”. She later went on to tweet, “Sovereignty never ceded”, along with a photograph of the incident.
