On section 44 of the constitution

Richard Barlow writes: Re. “On politicians’ citizenship woes” (Wednesday)

I don’t agree with Reg Jones —  I don’t think that  that he is in a minority about s.44.  Quite the reverse, I think most Australians want our elected , highly paid representatives to , you know, represent us.  As Australians.  I would concede that s 44 could be changed so that a Barnaby Bro or a Signore Canavan could renounce their foreign allegiances upon discovering what their mama’s had done. Until that happens they should go Green, by that I mean, do the honourable thing and quit.

Joe Boswell writes:  Re. “On politicians’ citizenship woes” (Wednesday)

Reg Jones explained his approval of s 44 of the Constitution, saying, “You work for the Australian public only, or you don’t get the job!”

What a splendid idea. However, dual citizenship is the least of our problems with finding such politicians. Canavan, on resigning as minister, declared, “It has been such an honour to represent the Australian mining sector over the past year…”

I don’t think it was being Italian that caused him to believe a minister’s job is to serve sectional corporate interests regardless of the public good. Anyway, his attitude is pretty much universal in the Coalition. In May 2016 Tony Abbott said the mining industry owed Ian MacFarlane a cushy job in return for his services. Labor’s Martin Ferguson got his reward from the same industry earlier, so it’s both major parties. There are many more examples of our politicians’ deep commitment to working for themselves, their mates and big business, and all they want from the rest of us is to not get in their way.