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An Australian member of parliament has said that representatives in his country's House of Representatives should stop swearing an oath of allegiance to the British monarch and remove them from coinage. Bob Katter, 81, the Father of the House, has served as the federal member for Kennedy in Queensland since 1993. He said: "When you become a member of Parliament in Australia, you swear allegiance to Her Majesty, or His Majesty, whatever they are, on a bible - you swear allegiance to them. And I would shout out: 'I swear allegiance to the people of Australia.'"

He added: "As a nation we're never going to grow up if we have our politicians swearing allegiance to a foreign monarch. Either you believe that all people are born free and equal, or you don't, and if you have a monarch on your coins, as we have in Australia, then obviously you don't believe that all people are born free and equal."

However, the veteran politician emphasised that he would not want this "to get mixed up with being anti-British". Mr Katter said: "I'm very, very proud that we've inherited a great system of Government, which has held up for four, five hundred years."

Australia is a member of the Commonwealth, and King Charles III is still the country's head of state. Under Section 42 of its constitution, an oath to him must be sworn.

The country has a House of Representatives - modelled on the British House of Commons, where the executive government is formed, and a Senate, a chamber that scrutinises the lower house, similar to the House of Lords in the UK.

Although its members are elected.

Australia also has an opposition - the second-largest party whose job is to criticise the government and act as a government-in-waiting, the concept of question time, during which ministers must answer questions from members of the House; as well as a mace and Black Rod - a senior parliamentary officer responsible for making sure ceremonial protocol is kept to and order is maintained within a legislative chamber.

Mr Katter, however, does not want his country to become a republic.

"I don't think that's a good way of doing things," he said.

"I think the British system of government is good, where you elect someone to represent you, and then they elect someone to govern. I think that's a lot better than what the French and Americans do."

In 1999, Australians voted "no" by 54.87% to 45.13% in a referendum to become a republic.

Mr Katter said he did not know who Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were when they arrived for their recent visit to Australia, and was told about the Sussexes by his staff.

"It just doesn't interest me at all," the politician said.

Mr Katter added that members of the British royal family are always on the front of Aussie magazines, to the country's "shame and embarrassment".

"To me, that's really sick," he said. "There's something seriously wrong."

"The whole idea that one person can be born superior to another is abhorrent to me."

"I don't think that they would know that we exist," Mr Katter said when asked if he thought the UK paid enough attention to his country.

He added: "Because we're a huge landmass, people think that we're significant.

"But with a population of 24million people, I mean, we're a bloody joke."