Thorpe was absent from parliament last week when other senators were officially sworn in.

On Monday morning, she would therefore traditionally swear allegiance to the queen.

But even as she walked across the Senate floor, she raised her right fist in the air.

"I, independent Lidia Thorpe, do solemnly and solemnly swear that I will be faithful and that I swear true allegiance to the colonization of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II," she said.

The word "colonization" is not in the formal oath.

"You must recite the oath as it is printed on the card," said Senate President Sue Lines.

Section 42 of the Australian Constitution states that "

every senator and every member of the House of Representatives shall before taking his or her seat take and subscribe the oath

".

"The flag does not represent me"

Thorpe also described Australia earlier this summer as a "colonial project".

"It represents the colonization of these countries, and it has no permission to be here, there has been no consent, there has been no treaty, so that flag does not represent me," Lidia Thorpe told Channel 10's The Project.

Thorpe said she is standing in parliament "to challenge the illegal occupation of the colonial system in this country".

- I am here for my people, and I will sacrifice swearing allegiance to the colonizer to enter the media as I am doing right now, she said.

A question for Parliament

Professor Anne Twomey, a constitutional expert at the University of Sydney, said it was up to parliament to decide whether the oath would prevent someone from taking their seat as a senator.

- It is a matter for the Speaker to enforce section 42 and as this is an internal procedure in Parliament I do not think it is something that could be enforced in a court of law, Anne Twomey told Guardian Australia.

Deputy Minister for the Republic, Matt Thistlethwaite, said last week that swearing allegiance to the Queen was "archaic and ridiculous".

- It does not represent the Australia we live in and it is further proof of why we must start discussing becoming a republic with our own head of state.

We are no longer British, he said.