The opposition is calling for a review into Lidia Thorpe’s eligibility as a senator after she said she had sworn allegiance to Queen Elizabeth’s “hairs”, instead of “heirs” – something Thorpe later called accidental.
The independent senator backtracked on Thursday after suggesting she deliberately mispronounced part of the oath when she was sworn in as a senator in 2022, saying it was because her “English grammar isn’t as good as others”.
The days-long controversy was prompted after the Victorian senator, a Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman, heckled King Charles III about the involvement of the British monarchy in Indigenous historical and ongoing injustices during his visit to Canberra on Monday.
The opposition Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, raised constitutional questions about the validity of her service, noting that section 42 of the constitution requires an individual to both make and subscribe to the oath or affirmation of office to be eligible to sit in the Senate.
In a letter to the Senate president, Sue Lines, on Thursday, Birmingham wrote Thorpe’s comments were “deeply concerning” and suggested they brought her validity as a senator into question. He said he wrote “on behalf of Coalition senators”.
“Taking the oath or affirmation is one of the few requirements placed upon a senator following their election. Senator Thorpe’s actions and admission undermine this important process,” he wrote.
“The Coalition believes this matter must be resolved so that the integrity and authority of the Senate is maintained.”
Birmingham further suggested her “outburst” created a “risk” that visiting leaders would reconsider whether speaking in Australia’s parliament “has too high a potential for embarrassment”.
It comes as Thorpe said on Thursday that it was “an insult” for the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and others in the Coalition to question her legitimacy as a senator when she had simply mispronounced the word “heirs”.
“I spoke what I read on the card,” Thorpe said in an interview with Sky News.
“My English grammar isn’t as good as others and I spoke what I read. So I misspoke, and to have this country question – or particularly people like Dutton and other senators from his party – for them to question my legitimacy in this job is, is an insult. And they can’t get rid of me.”
The comments appear to contradict what Thorpe said on Wednesday when asked whether the remarks she shouted at King Charles III during Monday’s parliamentary reception amounted to renouncing her affirmation.
“I swore allegiance to the queen’s hairs,” Thorpe told ABC TV on Wednesday. “If you listen close enough, it wasn’t her ‘heirs’, it was her ‘hairs’ that I was giving my allegiance to. And now that, you know, they’re no longer here, I don’t know where that stands.”
“To me, it said, ‘hairs’,” Thorpe said of the affirmation she read when sworn in to parliament after the 2022 federal election.
“It starts with a ‘h’. So, you know, I was reading from the card. I signed the card. I was accepted into the parliament to fulfil my role as a senator. I’ve done a lot of good for this country that people don’t talk about.”
Anne Twomey, a constitutional expert, said because Thorpe had signed the affirmation document, her swearing-in was legal.
“That has the oath, or affirmation of allegiance set out in writing with ‘heirs’ spelled correctly and she signed it and it was witnessed,” Twomey told ABC TV.
“So she has actually made that oath in writing, and even to the extent that she might have mispronounced the word heirs by pronouncing the ‘h’, this pronunciation is not itself legally invalidating. She also referred to the queen’s successors. So she has made an oath to the queen and the queen’s successors. King Charles is the queen’s successor, therefore she has made an oath to him, both orally and in writing.”
Earlier on Thursday, Thorpe told Nine’s Today Show she was not leaving parliament.
“No one can kick me out of there. I’m there to fulfil my job. I’m there to represent the black sovereign movement which is questioning the sovereignty of the crown. I’m calling for a treaty. I’ll spend the next three years getting that unfinished business done,” she said.
Thorpe wrote to King Charles in March 2023 requesting a meeting to discuss the potential of a treaty between the crown and First Nations people before his official coronation.
The letter stated a war was declared on First Nations people 200 years ago through “the invasion of our lands”.
“We didn’t have firearms and armies to counter your ancestor’s invasion, and ever since then, our people have been feeling the impact of the diseases brought to our land, the dispossession, the displacement and the cultural disconnection forced upon us,” Thorpe wrote.
“This reconciliation with Australia’s First Peoples could be an incredible legacy for you, Sir, to start your reign as king with.”
