Jacqui Lambie Quoting The Wrong Oath While Dressed Head To Toe In The Australian Flag Sure Is Something

Yesterday, while you were spending the national holiday either celebrating or mourning (or both, if you’re a Triple J listener), our increasingly tech-savvy politicians were all over the internet. Some of their content was respectful, educational and inspiring, and some was completely irrelevant, if not totally batshit insane.

Various Greens and Labor Party members signalled their solidarity with Aboriginal Australians on the anniversary of a day that marked the beginning of a genocidal wave of brutal British colonisation on the First Nations peoples’ land; Foreign Minister Julie Bishop launched a Tourism Australia campaign while clinging to Chris Hemsworth; Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm retweeted a bunch of aggressively pro-gun and sexist opinions slightly more than usual; and Bill Shorten solidified his status as the most beige politician ever by doing some home gardening.

But probably the most memorable and true to form post was this video from independent senator Jacqui Lambie, who wore the Australian flag via sequins and feathers, and basically regurgitated a southern cross-covered “If you don’t love it, LEAVE!” bumper sticker:

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Some things to note:

• She is wearing a feather headdress on top of an Australian flag headband.
• Contrary to her opening line, Lambie didn’t swear an “Oath of Allegiance” to Australia. That would have required her to swear “that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria (now Elizabeth the Second), Her heirs and successors according to law”, which she already did, when she was sworn into office as a member for Parliament. She probably meant to say the “Citizen’s Pledge” or “Oath of Commitment”, which people recite at citizenship ceremonies when they become citizens of Australia. Granted, that still doesn’t make much sense — she was born into her citizenship — but remember, this is a person wearing a feather headdress on top of an Australian flag headband.
• Um, there isn’t “equality for all, including women, gay and Indigenous people” in Australia. Because, for example, same-sex marriage is illegal, and same-sex adoption is still only legal in some states; women are vastly under-represented in Parliament, and in most states don’t have legal authority over their own reproductive organs; compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts, Aboriginal Australians are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated, have a death rate of up to 5 or more times higher, and are five times more likely to be unemployed. Sure, compared to many other countries, Australia is very, very lucky and much further ahead in the equality stakes. But to say all marginalised groups in Australia are treated equally to everybody else is completely incorrect. But, again, this is a person wearing a feather headdress on top of an Australian flag headband.

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