Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has backtracked on an earlier account of her oath of allegiance, which prompted widespread criticism from Senate colleagues and set off speculation about the legality of her office.
On Wednesday, Thorpe told the ABC she swore an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II's "hairs", rather than her heirs, when taking her seat in 2022.
She now says the word was mispronounced.
However, she remains defiant in the face of criticism
, where she repeatedly shouted: "You are not our king. You are not our sovereign."
Asked on Thursday about the public blowback from her actions, Thorpe said it was "just another day in the colony".
"I wanted to send a message to the King, I got that message across. The whole world is talking about it," she told Nine's Today program.
"My people are happy because my people have been protesting for decades and decades, as you all know, for exactly this.
"So, the message has been sent, delivered. Now it's up to the King of England to respond."
Allegiance to the late Queen's 'hairs' unintentional
On Thursday, she agreed with Today host Karl Stefanovic's assessment that the swearing-in process "took a little bit of her soul".
"I had to go through a process with my family prior to doing that because swearing allegiance to someone else from another country whose ancestors have done a lot of damage to my ancestors, I think is completely inappropriate," Thorpe said.
However, the senator has now suggested the word 'heirs' was mispronounced rather than intentionally avoided.
In a Sky News interview on Thursday, Thorpe said she "spoke what [she] read on the card", on which "heirs" was written.
"Now forgive me ... my English grammar isn't as good as others, and I spoke what I read, so I misspoke," she said.
"So to have this country question, and particularly people like (Opposition leader Peter) Dutton and other senators from his party, for them to question my legitimacy in this job is an insult."
It comes as the senator for Victoria rejects
, saying: "no-one can kick [her] out".
"I'm about truth-telling. I'm loud, proud, Black. Get used to it and listen to what I have to say," Thorpe said.
She maintained her place in the Senate was necessary to "get justice for [her] people" — raising concerns about the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care and the high suicide rates among First Nations people.
Suicide is now the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 15-39 according to the 2024 Closing the Gap annual data compilation report.
"Our children are killing themselves", she said.
Senate is 'challenged' by Thorpe's behaviour
The federal government's leader in the Senate, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, said Thorpe's initial admission of a deliberate mispronunciation in her oath was "an unusual thing".
"I have to say, we're all part of an institution that is the parliament and our democracy, and within that, we have very different views," she told ABC television.
However, Wong said Thorpe needed to "reflect on the institution of which she is a part, and how she wishes to play a role in that institution".
Thorpe also defended taking a salary for sitting in the Senate, saying: "it's paying the rent".
"I'm getting paid by the colony to bring up the issues that my people raise with me," she said.
Labor Senator Katy Gallagher also said Thorpe needed to consider her position.
"We need to work out a way to ensure that the institution of the Senate ... is upheld and respected, and I think that's at times challenged with some behaviour in particular from Senator Thorpe," she told ABC radio.
"She also does like the attention that comes from these ... public displays.
"We'll work with people across the chamber about what the appropriate response is."
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