How a single word could see Lidia Thorpe disqualified from parliament

The federal coalition is seeking advice on Lidia Thorpe’s suitability to sit in parliament as the staunchly independent party backtracked on claims she deliberately misrepresented her Senate oath.

Senator Thorpe told the ABC on Wednesday that she had pledged allegiance to ‘the Queen’s hair’ rather than the ‘Queen’s heirs’, justifying interrupting a parliamentary reception for King Charles III and shouting insults to the monarch on Monday.

The coalition is now seeking legal advice on Senator Thorpe’s parliamentary status.

Senate Opposition Leader Simon Birmingham has also raised questions about whether she could legally sit in the House of Lords if she had not taken the oath of allegiance properly.

“This is a very serious claim that calls into question her fitness to participate in the work of the Senate,” Senator Birmingham said Thursday.

“Section 42 of the Constitution requires a Senator to take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation before assuming the Senator’s seat in the Senate.

“A senator must therefore be sworn in before taking a seat in the Senate or participating in its proceedings.”

The oath that all senators take to be sworn in reads: “I… swear that I will be faithful and faithful to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, her heirs and successors according to law.”

On Wednesday, Senator Thorpe told the ABC she only remembered swearing allegiance to the Queen’s “hairs” rather than “heirs”.

“If you listen closely enough, it wasn’t her ‘heirs’, it was her ‘hair’ that I pledged my allegiance to and now that they’re no longer here, I don’t know why,” she said. .

After the comments prompted some to question the legality of her position, Senator Thorpe has denied that the misstatement was intentional.

The independent senator told Sky News she ‘talked some’ [she] read on the card’, on which ‘heirs’ was written.

“Now forgive me… my English grammar is not as good as others, and I spoke what I read, so I made a mistake,” she said.

“So it is an insult to this country, and especially people like Dutton and other senators of his party, to question my legitimacy in this job.

“And they can’t get rid of me, so I have three and a half years left. I’m sorry to those who don’t like me, but I’m here to do my job.”

Senator Birmingham has called on the President of the Senate, WA Labor Senator Sue Lines, to investigate the matter.

Senator Birmingham compared Thorpe’s oath comments to Irish republican Sinn Fein members elected to the British Parliament who refused a pledge of loyalty to the Crown.

Controversy has erupted over Senator Lidia Thorpe’s ability to sit in the Senate after revealing she mispronounced the oath of office

“Lidia Thorpe does not demonstrate those kinds of principles,” Senator Birmingham said The Australian.

“She wants to try to do it both ways.

“She’s in the Senate because people voted for the Greens and that should really be a warning to Australian voters that if you vote for the Greens you’re going to get these kind of extreme senators.”

At Monday’s reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla, Senator Thorpe approached the podium wearing a possum skin cape.

‘You have destroyed our country. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocide plotter,” she shouted as security officers tried to intercept her.

As she was dragged out of the reception, Senator Thorpe shouted: ‘This is not your country. You are not my king. You are not our king.”

ANU’s constitutional law expert Ron Levy said the Supreme Court could potentially rule that Thorpe was never qualified to sit in the Senate, which could lead to expulsion.

“She cannot be expelled from parliament for insulting and insulting the king,” he told Nine News.

King Charles (pictured right) sits with Queen Camilla during the reception, interrupted by Senator Thorpe

“However, there may be a lawsuit that has a chance of success because of her failure to take an oath, because of her revelation that she did not actually take the oath of allegiance.

“There is a possibility that the court may accept the allegation that she was not properly sworn in.”

When she took the parliamentary oath of allegiance in August 2022, Senator Thorpe added the words “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.”

Senator Lines interrupted and had Senator Thorpe start over and take the oath as written, which she apparently did while raising a fist in a “black power” salute.