Queensland MP Bob Katter said it's time for Australia to "grow up" and replace the British monarch's portrait with a home-grown hero on the nation's currency.
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King Charles' portrait will replace Queen Elizabeth II on $1 coins before the new year, the Royal Australian Mint said.
The member for Kennedy said he would like to see King Charles III removed from Australian coins and replaced by Indigenous warrior Tubba Tre or Kokoda Track soldier Ralph Honner.
"What Australian would even want a foreigner on their money?" Mr Katter said on November 27.
"So surely you'd put Kokoda hero Ralph Honner on your coin, not some British monarch, demonstrating that you don't believe that all people are born free and equal and that you don't believe you're a separate country, that you're a nationalistic Australian.
"Or Kalkadoon warrior-leader Tubba Tre, holding a woomera and spear."
Mr Katter said Tubba Tre was "the leader of the Kalkadoons, that held the British empire at bay for arguably over 20 years".
The Kennedy MP had previously floated the idea that he could replace King Charles' on the coins, wearing his signature hat and fighting a crocodile.
Mr Katter said he has "never sworn allegiance to a foreign monarchy, and never will" in a November 27 statement.
He considers it "extremely disrespectful that Australian MPs aren't offered the opportunity to swear 'their allegiance to the people of Australia' each time a new parliament sits".
"In my 50 years in politics I've refused to swear allegiance to a foreign monarch," he said about the formal procedure expected from all parliamentarians at the beginning of their term.
The House of Representatives confirmed Mr Katter had been sworn into Parliament in accordance with the Australian Constitution.
Anna Houlahan
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
