Senator Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal woman of DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara descent, called Queen Elizabeth II a ‘colonial’ queen on Monday during a swearing-in ceremony in which she was to pledge her allegiance to the British monarch. When the Green senator was called upon to take her oath, she walked with her right fist raised in a Black Power salute. He reluctantly swore to serve the Queen of Britain, who still remains head of state in some former British colonies, including Australia and Canada.

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Story continues below ad In protest, Thorpe recited the oath as: “I Sovereign, Lydia Thorpe, do solemnly and solemnly swear to be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Colonist Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” before being cut off by a Senate official. . “Senator Thorpe, Senator Thorpe, you must recite the oath as it is printed on the card,” said chamber president Sue Lines. A Senate colleague can also be heard on the video yelling, “You’re not a senator if you don’t do it right,” at Thorpe. Thorpe finally recited the oath as written, omitting the “colony” on the second reading. After the incident, Thorpe said on Twitter: “Sovereignty was never ceded.” Sovereignty was never granted. https://t.co/OowLrlUApy — Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) August 1, 2022 Story continues below ad Australia was a British colony for over 100 years before gaining the right to self-government in 1901 under the British Commonwealth system. Trending Stories

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And like Canada, Australia is grappling with the legacy of genocide against indigenous peoples. Before Europeans landed on Australia’s shores, an estimated one to 1.5 million indigenous people occupied the island. During the invasion and colonization of Australia, that number dropped to less than 100,000 by 1901, according to the Australian Museum.

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Like the residential school system in Canada, the Australian government ran a widespread campaign until 1967 to remove Aboriginal children from their homes to assimilate them into white families. These children are known as the Stolen Generations in Australia. In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to Indigenous people for the harm caused to them by the Australian government. Current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has voiced his support for changing Australia’s constitution to give Indigenous peoples an institutional role in law-making. “Our priority this term is the recognition of First Nations people in our Constitution,” Albanese told CNN on Sunday. Story continues below ad

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Albanese also expressed support for severing official ties with the United Kingdom and its monarchy and establishing Australia as a democracy. “I support a democracy,” he said on-air. According to CBS News, polls have shown that many Australians support the formation of a democracy, but the issue of how to choose a new head of state remains unresolved.

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During Thorpe’s first swearing-in in 2020, she said her community wasn’t happy about it because she would have to “swear allegiance to the settler,” according to the Independent. Last month, he called Australia a “colonial project” and said the national flag did not represent it. “He represents the colonization of these lands and he has no permission to be here. There was no consensus, there was no treaty, so this flag doesn’t represent me,” he told Channel 10’s The Project. 2:12 Communities in Australia struggle with multiple floods in the same year Previous Video Next Video © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.