Raising her fist in a power salute, an Aboriginal Australian Senator took the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony for the upper house to brand Queen Elizabeth II a “coloniser”.
During the swearing-in ceremony this week for the Australian parliament, far-left Green politician Lidia Thorpe changed the official oath of allegiance to add in the word “colonising”.
“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 from the floor of the Senate.
The antics drew criticism from Thorpe’s colleagues, and she was told by Senate President Sue Lines that she would have to repeat the oath, saying: “You can’t be a senator if you don’t do it properly.”
The leftist senator performed the oath correctly and was then sworn in again, however, she later posted an image on social media showing her fist raised with the caption: “sovereignty never ceded.”
Thorpe, an aboriginal woman, who has described herself as coming from a “long line of strong black women,” has previously courted controversy in Australia after she appeared to support the actions of protesters who set the Old Parliament Building in Canberra on fire during a so-called “traditional smoking ceremony”.
“Seems like the colonial system is burning down. Happy New Year everyone,” she reportedly wrote on Twitter in the aftermath of the fire. A man has since been charged with arson in connection to the allegedly deliberate attack.
While the former colony of Australia became a functionally independent Dominion distinct from the United Kingdom in 1901, Queen Elizabeth II remained the head of state of the commonwealth country.
Like in Canada, the British monarch typically performs this duty in a ceremonial fashion, with the local parliaments running their respective governments.
However, under the constitution of Australia, the Queen still has the ability to dismiss the government. This power has not been exercised since 1975 when the British monarch’s representative in Australia, governor-general John Kerr dismissed Labour Party Prime Minister Gough Whitlam before the end of his term in an attempt to solve a deadlock in parliament.
Australia last held a referendum on becoming a republic in 1999 when the people backed the Queen as remaining their head of state.
Current polling suggests that the result may go the other way if another vote was held today, yet, the recently elected leftist Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has vowed to launch a referendum campaign on giving Aboriginal Australians a constitutional role in policy decision-making, meaning that a referendum on the monarchy will likely have to be put on hold for the time being.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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