An Australian senator has referred to Queen Elizabeth as a “coloniser” in a show of defiance while swearing an oath of allegiance to the British monarch.
A video of the oath has gone viral after Lidia Thorpe, a First Nations Greens member of the Australian senate, was told to recite the words as they were written in order to be sworn into the house.
During the swearing in, Thorpe approached the dispatch box in the senate house with her fist raised in a symbol of resistance.
When she inserted the word “colonising” before Queen Elizabeth, some members of the senate audibly groaned. Thorpe was then forced to repeat the pledge.
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Speaking to SBS/NITV (an indigenous Australian network) , the senator said her words represented "truth-telling".
"The Queen is a coloniser," said Ms Thorpe.
"It's a fact, it's truth. It's not something to get upset about... If people are hurt by truth, then we need to keep talking truth so we can get people on board and educate people."
Reflecting on the incident, Thorpe was regretful about having to repeat the oath as it was written.
"I didn't feel good," she said.
"It's against my religion... it's basically like kneeling to the coloniser, and saying I need to respect the power and the privilege and the stolen wealth that she's incurred from my country.”
Despite that fact that Australia has had some form of independence from Britain since 1901, members of the senate are still required to pledge allegiance to the crown to this day.
Australians are not the only former colony whose politicians still swear loyalty to the British monarchy though. For example, elected representatives and new citizens of Canada must do so as well.
Other countries in the Commonwealth who still have the British monarch as their head of state include New Zealand, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize and Papua New Guinea.
In total, there are 15 countries still in the Commonwealth, who are taking part in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham at the moment.
One country that has recently done away with archaic oaths to the British Royal family is Barbados, which removed Queen Elizabeth as head of state in November last year.
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