MP for Chisholm Julia Banks
Benjamin Franklin famously said “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days,” and my journalism lecturer told me the same rule can be applied to news stories. However, some things simply refuse to go away. Scott Ludlam resigned on July 14, Larissa Waters on July 17, and Malcolm Roberts hasn’t tweeted about his citizenship status (probably a good idea given his track record of mental gymnastics) since July 25. But section 44 of the constitution is still endangering some MPs’ careers, with Julia Banks, Justine Keay and Nick McKim the latest to attract some unwanted attention. So who is still vulnerable? And who is safe?
Danger zone
Matt Canavan
Yes, Matt Canavan, adult, actually blamed his mum for this debacle. However, while Canavan resigned from his cabinet position because he holds Italian citizenship, his political career is not over yet. As the ABC’s Antony Green explained: “The difference in Senator Canavan’s case is that he is entitled to citizenship by descent rather than by birth, a category of citizenship that the High Court has not previously ruled on.” So, off to the High Court he goes.
Justine Keay
Keay is the latest MP to come into focus, with the Tasmanian MP holding dual Australian-British citizenship before the 2016 election. A spokesman for Keay made a statement trying to hose down the concerns: “She had applied to renounce her UK citizenship prior to the issue of the writs and opening of nominations for the 2016 federal election. Her UK citizenship was renounced.” However, Keay has so far refused to release her declaration of renuniation.
Nick McKim
The Tasmanian Greens Senator was born in London, came to Australia as a child, and claims to have renounced his UK citizenship before entering the Senate in 2015 to replace the departing Christine Milne. However, as the ABC’s Georgie Burgess points out, if an application to renounce UK citizenship is accepted, a declaration of renunciation is provided, but McKim never received such confirmation. “What I’ve got is the letter I sent to the United Kingdom Home Office which renounced my citizenship,” McKim told ABC Radio Hobart. “I did not receive anything back from the UK government, and we’re asking for that because I think that’s what the people want to see.”
Julia Banks
Banks came into focus last week in the a new development of the section 44 drama, which centres on someone being “entitled” to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power. The Victorian Liberal MP’s father has Greek citizenship — does this make her “entitled” to Greek citizenship? While Banks isn’t as prominent as Matt Canavan, as she is a member of the House of Representatives rather than a senator, the repercussions for the Liberal Party would be far worse if she were forced to resign. The Liberal Party holds a one-seat majority and would be forced to contest a byelection in the marginal seat of Chisholm. From a Liberal Party statement on Friday, it appears that Banks is in the clear: “We have received confirmation from the Greek Embassy that, according to records, Julia Banks is not registered as a Greek citizen and also is not entitled as a Greek citizen.”
Other Australian MPs with Greek parents are: Arthur Sinodinos, Maria Vamvakinou and Nick Xenophon.
Pauline Hanson
As Crikey reported last week, Pauline Hanson told a women’s magazine in 2010 that she still had a lot of love for Mother Britain: “… Australia will always be my home. But I love England and Ireland. My mother’s family come from Limerick and my father’s from London. I love the culture.” Could the entitlement chestnut hit Pauline Hanson? According to a 2010 article by the UK Telegraph, Hanson is eligible for a British passport because her grandfather was an immigrant from England in 1908. Unlikely, but who knows …
Malcolm Roberts
All quiet on the western front. Roberts looked to end the discussion last week on Sky News and has since refocused his Twitter attention upon Islam and climate change. However, given he only received confirmation regarding the renunciation of British citizenship six months after nominating as a candidate, he’s probably off to the High Court at some point. Adding to Roberts’ woes is the Indian legal precedent set by the case Bhagawati Prasad Dixit v Rajiv Gandhi (1986). Obscure? Yes. Dangerous? Potentially.
Enter the void
Just to make things perfectly clear, we are now entering steel beams territory. The names below are by no means in serious danger, but have still been swallowed up by the voracious beast that is citizenship discussion.
Alan Tudge
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge was born in Australia, but he held a dual UK citizenship until early 2010, before his election. While Tudge provided confirmation of the renunciation of his UK citizenship, he has still copped flak for how dodgy his paperwork looks. Tudge might have nothing to fear, but his letter from the British High Commission reads like a spam email.
Barnaby Joyce
Joyce’s name came up in The Australian last week, as he was born in Australia to a parent with a New Zealand citizenship. While the article did not suggest Joyce was in any serious danger, it did highlight that a spokeswoman for New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs said someone in Joyce’s position could apply to be a citizen by descent. A blogger took this line of inquiry even further, alleging that Joyce is an NZ citizen by descent.
Mathias Cormann
Cormann has renounced his Belgian citizenship but could apply to get it back. Does that mean he could be caught by the “entitlement” snare?
Stay tuned
The full list of Australian pollies born overseas, excluding Ludlam and Waters, is as follows:
Mathias Corman (Belgium);
Anne Aly (Egypt);
Eric Abetz (Germany);
Maria Vamvakinou (Greece);
Sam Dastyari (Iran);
Malcolm Roberts (India);
Tony Zappia (Italy);
Penny Wong (Malaysia);
Derryn Hinch (New Zealand);
Sussan Ley (Nigeria);
Ian Goodenough and Peter Whish-Wilson (Singapore);
Tony Abbott, Doug Cameron, Paul Fletcher, Alexander Gallacher, Nick McKim, Brian Mitchell, Brendan O’Connor, Nigel Scullion, Josh Wilson and Rebekha Sharkie (United Kingdom); and
Lucy Gichuhi (Kenya).
Good grief, we actually need these citizens of the world!
Please Explain buggered off to the UK (having had it with us all, so that was it, she was going, it’s goodbye forever); then came back immediately because “England’s full of immigrants”. Why won’t she reveal what papers she obtained for said trip, or fate thereof?
Probably shouldn’t bother putting ALP members on the list… their vetting goes back three generations.
Or Matthias Cormann – he’s the only member of this government who hasn’t shit the bed yet. Unless you’re thinking it’s his turn.
Might want to take Gichuhi off the list too – she was cleared a month ago (Kenyan Embassy said that her citizenship lapsed; some sort of opt-in requirement that she never invoked).
And update your facts about Malcolm Roberts – they’ve changed. Again.
And for the love of Mike, CHECK THAT TWITTER FEED AGAIN!
It wasn’t Tudge who had the dodgy paperwork – it was the other one!
They don’t put everything in the lede.
That ABC article is a bit weird. It goes to lengths to explain the people who have been caught out by S.44 were, in fact, actual citizens of foreign countries, but then goes on to make the leap that this could be seen as the same thing as merely being eligible to take up a foreign citizenship, even though those two scenarios are vastly different from a legal perspective.
For example, someone merely eligible to take up UK citizenship because their parents are British, has no rights as a UK citizen. They can’t vote, they can’t get welfare, they can’t get a UK passport, they need a visa to enter the country, etc, etc. It is a struggle to imagine how anyone could consider someone merely eligible to take up foreign citizenship (but not having done so) in any way beholden to them.
Also, I went searching for “foreign resident Italian citizen” and couldn’t find any such thing, so I’m not sure what Antony (or Canavan, if that’s where it came from) are talking about there. He’s either a citizen (regardless of whether that happened because of something he did or his mother did), or he’s not.
Finally, regarding the over-the-top “Putin making Turnbull a Russian citizen” example, I’d argue that if such a thing did happen, AND it was clearly communicated to Turnbull that it had happened, AND he subsequently made no attempt to renounce it, then he would and should also fall foul of S.44.
That wasn’t the only fashion in which Antony Verde* was flamboyantly wrong. He also said that renunciation is costly (it’s the same cost as applying – about 200 euro).
He also fucked up the difference between Matteo Cavanossi and the two Greens. It was that he OBTAINED** citizenship as an adult (not having a nation hand it to him before he could walk and spending his life ignorant of it); not whatever pseudolegal fluff Verde said it was.
And why the fuck he touches Sykes vs Cleary is anyones guess (it was about a state school teacher who didn’t resign before running)…
“(iv) holds any office of profit under the Crown, or any pension payable during the pleasure of the Crown out of any of the revenues of the Commonwealth”
Their decision on reasonable steps to renounce citizenship was…
“it depends” on the individuals circumstances
Verde always takes the scenic route to a simple thought; and it’s nearly always a wasted trip.
He didn’t even slow down for the “maybe Matteo’s just lying” exit (Matteo did once assure us that coal didn’t have any carbon in it, so it’s not like Verde didn’t have a map).
*Tony Green to you
**the Tomato dropped him in it there; when Matteos dad was getting locked up for defrauding Nestle (around 2007; he was one of their accountants), he said that Matteo spoke with him about wether to do this very thing.
A state school teacher is disallowed – you wouldn’t want someone with certified intelligence in government for god’s sake!
Doc – the Oz born child of a British born person can get a UK passport without any hassle.
Unless things have changed since I did it, to get a UK passport you would first need to become a UK citizen (by descent).
What gets me about all this is nary a word from the government on how to fix it. Surely a referendum to change the provision to exclude those not holding Australian citizenship and/or those swearing allegiance to a foreign power whether a state power or otherwise would clear it up and stop annoying us with ancient stupid stuff.
I’d love it if the Federal Court got the shits and decided it was not going to do the government’s work for it anymore and “qualified” its previous interpretation to declare s44 means what it says!
There has been no word on how to “fix” it because they won’t know whether or not it needs “fixing” until Canavan’s court case is concluded.
If the only losers are a couple of filthy Greens pollies, then there’s not a problem. If someone from two the major parties falls afoul, that’s a different matter.
Then I doubly hope the Federal Court delivers a swift kick – a black letter law reading of s44 would look like clearing out a fair number of them, regardless of “renunciations”
Geez, I hope the “filthy Greens” mention was meant to be sardonic.
Yes. Toungue firmly planted in cheek.