Tassie MPs verify citizenship status

TASMANIAN federal MPs who were born overseas have taken to Twitter to quash any rumours of their ineligibility to serve.

The Twitter storm came after Greens senator Larissa Waters became the second deputy leader of the party to resign within a week over dual citizenship.

Senator Waters stood down upon learning she held Canadian citizenship.

That rules her ineligible to stand for election to federal parliament under section 44 of the constitution.

It followed the resignation on Friday of fellow Greens senator Scott Ludlam, who discovered he held dual citizenship with New Zealand.

At least four Tasmanian federal MPs were born overseas, including Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who was born in Singapore.

Senator Whish-Wilson is understood to be on leave, but yesterday tweeted that he did not hold dual citizenship.

He said one parent must also be Singaporean to qualify for dual citizenship under Singaporean law.

“Apart from that @larissawaters and my cases were near identical. Left as Bubs with Aussie parents on Aussie passports. So bloody frustrating,” he tweeted.

“While there’s no excuses for our party’s oversight, it’s a cruel shitty blow to us all to lose another great Senator on such a technicality.”

Fellow Greens senator Nick McKim was born in the United Kingdom, but announced yesterday via twitter he had renounced his citizenship in 2015 before his Senate nomination.

Senator McKim said the resignation of senators Waters and Ludlam was a big loss for the party and to the Parliament.

Labor Lyons MHR Brian Mitchell was also born in the United Kingdom.

He tweeted: “for the record I was born in the U.K. and renounced my UK citizenship prior to nomination.”

Labor Braddon MP Justine Keay was not born overseas but has previously held dual citizenship.

Ms Keay tweeted that she formally renounced the citizenship before nominating for federal parliament.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz was born in Germany. In an address to the Senate in 2010 Senator Abetz said under that German law a German national who is naturalised abroad loses citizenship automatically.

He said he also wrote to the German embassy to confirm this in 1992 before nominating for the 1993 election “out of an abundance of caution”.