Australian Senator Calls Queen Elizabeth “Coloniser” While Being Sworn In

Indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe was made to repeat the oath of allegiance for Australian parliamentarians on Monday, August 1, after she described the Queen as a “coloniser” while being sworn in.

Thorpe, a Greens senator for Victoria, was absent from parliament last week when other senators were officially sworn in, so she took her oath on Monday morning.

Walking to the Senate floor with her right fist raised in the air, Thorpe was asked to recite the words written on a card.

“I sovereign, Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful and I bear true allegiance to the colonising her majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said.

The word “colonising” is not in the formal oath.

She was immediately interrupted by Senate president, Sue Lines, and made to restart.

“You are required to recite the oath as printed on the card,” Lines told the Greens senator. “Please recite the oath.”

“You’re not a senator if you don’t do it properly,” another senator told her as she was urged to repeat the oath.

Another senator was heard saying to Thorpe in disapproval: “none of us like it.”

Thorpe later tweeted “sovereignty never ceded” as she shared a photo of her swearing-in.