Australian lawmakers side with Queen Elizabeth after Senator insults monarch

Queen Elizabeth was called a coloniser by a newly-elected Senator in Australia during her oath-taking ceremony.

The Guardian reported that 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. In a video shared online, she is seen approaching the Senate floor with her right fist 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.

The Senator received backlash for referring the Queen as coloniser.

“You’re not a senator if you don’t do it properly,” an unidentified lawmaker told her.

Several other members too are heard protesting Thorpe’s take in the viral video.

Labor party president Sue Lines, in the Chair, paused for quiet, and asked Thrope to re-recite the oath verbatim.

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.