Indigenous Australian senator calls British Queen ‘colonizer’
Incident takes place during swearing-in ceremony in country’s parliament
ANKARA
Indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe called Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II a “colonizer” Monday.
Thorpe, from the Australian Greens party, made the remark during her swearing-in ceremony in parliament in the capital Canberra, local news outlets reported.
Entering parliament with a raised first, she said: "I, sovereign Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will be faithful, and I bear true allegiance to the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.”
According to local media, however, Senate President Sue Lines cut Thorpe off and asked her to recite the oath again, this time “as printed on the card.”
She eventually did what she was asked to do but posted a picture of the incident on her Twitter account.
“Sovereignty never ceded,” Thorpe said.
Australia, a sovereign and independent country since 1901, continues to recognize Britain’s monarch as head of state and remains a part of the British Commonwealth.
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