Lidia Thorpe now claims she misspoke on ‘hairs’/’heirs’ mispronunciation during swearing in oath

Constitutional expert says because Thorpe signed affirmation document, her swearing-in was legal

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Independent senator Lidia Thorpe appears to have backtracked on the suggestion that she deliberately mispronounced “heirs” as “hairs” when she was sworn in as a senator, now insisting she misspoke because her “English grammar isn’t as good as others’”.

Thorpe said on Thursday that it was “an insult” for the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and others in the Coalition to question her legitimacy as a senator when she had simply mispronounced the word “heirs”.

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