‘Legal opinions’: Action looming against Thorpe

Lidia Thorpe has still not escaped punishment after her royal protest, with Katy Gallagher saying Senators would discuss a response on Monday.

The federal minister did not speculate what disciplinary action may look like, but said she would “work with people across the chamber about what the appropriate response is.”

“We need to work out a way to ensure that the institution of the senate, and the important role it plays in democracy, is upheld and respected,” Senator Gallagher told the ABC on Thursday.

“And I think that’s at times challenged with some behaviour, in particular from Senator Thorpe, but she also does like attention that comes from these public displays.”

Senator Gallagher said that “many in the chamber” understood what the Senator Thorpe was trying to say, but disagreed with how she went about it.

“It’s a really matter for her now as well to reflect on her role as a senator, and how she wishes to play that role in what’s an important institution, including for the causes that she seeks to represent,” she said.

Meanwhile, the opposition’s leader in the senate, Simon Birmingham, said on Wednesday the Coalition would “consider legal opinions” after Senator Thorpe said she pledged allegiance to Queen Elizabeth’s “hairs” and not her heirs, when the Greens-turned-independent parliamentarian was sworn in 2022.

“This is a deeply serious claim to be making that does bring her eligibility to participate in the proceedings of the Senate into question,” he said.

“Section 42 of the Constitution requires that a senator make and subscribe the oath or affirmation before taking the senator’s seat in the Senate.

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

Senator Birmingham said it was a “privilege” to serve in the Senate and that swearing an allegiance was a constitutional requirement.

“Taking the oath or affirmation is one of the few requirements placed upon a senator other than their election,” he said.

“The Coalition will explore options and consider legal opinions as to the implications of Senator Thorpe’s admission.”

Among the options being floated by senators are a censure and even a suspension.

But Senator Thorpe earlier on Wednesday vowed that she was not going anywhere.

“I swore allegiance to the Queen’s hairs,” Senator Thorpe told the ABC.

“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 are no longer here, I don’t know where that stands.

“I’m not giving up my job, I’m not resigning.”

Senator Thorpe also signed a written oath before witnesses when she was sworn in, which would have spelled the word “heirs” correctly, according to constitutional law expert Anne Twomey.