Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe has walked back a claim she swore an allegiance to “the Queen’s hairs” – rather than her “heirs” – on entering the upper house.

It comes as senior government ministers urged Thorpe to reconsider her position in the Senate and the opposition sought a legal opinion on her eligibility to remain after the controversial comments.

The uproar follows Thorpe’s fiery protest at the King’s reception at Parliament House on Monday.

“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” she shouted at the monarch.

“You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us – our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people.

“You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want treaty.”

On Wednesday, Thorpe told ABC TV’s Afternoon Briefing she had sworn “allegiance to the Queen’s hairs, if you listen close enough” when she entered the Senate in August 2022.

“It was her hairs, not her heirs, that I was giving my allegiance to and now that they are no longer here, I don’t know where that stands,” she said.

She stood by the claim in interviews with the Nine network on Thursday.

Asked about the public blowback from her actions, Senator Thorpe said it was “just another day in the colony”.

“I wanted to send a message to the King, I got that message across. The whole world is talking about it,” she told Nine’s Today.

“My people are happy because my people have been protesting for decades and decades, as you all know, for exactly this.

“So the message has been sent, delivered. Now it’s up to the King of England to respond.”

But in a later interview with Sky News, Thorpe said she “accidentally misspoke” during her swearing-in in August 2022.

“Forgive me… my English grammar isn’t as good as others, and I spoke what I read, so I misspoke,” she said.

“To have this country question, and particularly people like [Opposition Leader Peter] Dutton and other senators from his party, for them to question my legitimacy in this job is an insult.

“They can’t get rid of me, so I’ve got another 3½ years. I’m sorry for those who don’t like me, but I’m here to do a job.”

The Victorian senator has repeatedly rejected Coalition calls for her to quit the Senate.

The federal opposition is examining Thorpe’s eligibility to sit and take part in Senate proceedings under section 42 of the Constitution.

The opposition is also considering moving a censure motion against Thorpe when the upper house sits again in November.

“The Coalition will explore options and consider legal opinions as to the implications of Senator Thorpe’s admission,” the Coalition’s leader in the Senate Simon Birmingham said.

Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said on Thursday the words Thorpe spoke aloud were beside the point because she had also signed a written oath.

The government’s leader in the Senate, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, said Thorpe’s admission about her oath was “an unusual thing”.

“I have to say, we’re all part of an institution that is the Parliament and our democracy, and within that, we have very different views,” she told ABC television.

However, Wong said Thorpe should “reflect on the institution of which she is a part, and how she wishes to play a role in that institution”.

Thorpe also defended taking a salary for sitting in the Senate, saying “it’s paying the rent, if you like”.

A base salary for a senator is just shy of $220,000.

“I’m getting paid by the colony to bring up the issues that my people raise with me,” she said.

Labor senator Katy Gallagher also said Thorpe should consider her position.

“We need to work out a way to ensure that the institution of the Senate … is upheld and respected, and I think that’s at times challenged with some behaviour in particular from Senator Thorpe,” she told ABC radio.

“She also does like the attention that comes from these … public displays.

“We’ll work with people across the chamber about what the appropriate response is.”

-with AAP