Back to the voters, Barnaby
Govt’s majority lost with Deputy PM disqualifed
THE High Court of Australia has ruled Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce out of Parliament, causing a huge headache for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
With his government losing its one-seat majority, insiders have called it “embarrassing” for the embattled PM and believe there is a question mark over how the government will “hold it together”.
The decision also triggers a by-election in the Nationals leader’s seat of New England, where Mr Joyce will attempt to regain his place. He said it would be held on December 2.
Senator Nigel Scullion will replace Mr Joyce as temporary parliamentary leader for the Nationals until the result of the by-election.
“I am going to make sure that I don’t cry in my beer,” Mr Joyce said after the announcement, despite describing it as a “momentous day”.
Mr Joyce said he was “naturally cautious” and “always prepared for this outcome”.
“I don’t actually stand here totally surprised. I always expected this was going to be a tough game.”
Nationals senator Fiona Nash, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and former Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam were also disqualified.
Senator Nick Xenophon and Matt Canavan were the only two out of the “citizenship seven” to survive the High Court’s decision.
In its judgment, the High Court “unanimously held” that Mr Ludlam, Ms Waters, Mr Roberts, Mr Joyce and Ms Nash were “a subject or a citizen... of a foreign power at the time of his or her nomination for the 2016 federal election”.
Labor reacted to the decision with satisfaction, with Opposition frontbencher Anthony Albanese declaring the ruling an embarrassment for the government.
“They’ve lost the leader of the National Party, they’ve also lost the deputy leader of the National Party, and Barnaby Joyce has been humiliated,” he told Sky News.
The politicians were referred to the High Court – sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns – after Greens senator Scott Ludlam resigned in August over New Zealand dual citizenship.
The Constitution bans politicians from sitting in parliament if they hold citizenship of another country.
But no one – even some of Canberra’s most seasoned insiders – was confident which way the High Court would swing its gavel.
With Mr Turnbull off to Israel this weekend, the question of whether Deputy Prime Minister Joyce would step in during his absence had been high on the PM’s agenda.
Liberal deputy leader and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is a candidate to step into the role but Senator
Scullion, the Nationals deputy leader, is also an option. Or, Mr Turnbull might have to can his trip.
The government argued Mr Joyce and four others were unaware they had inherited citizenship of another country and took steps to renounce it as soon as they realised.
The two excluded from the government’s fight were Greens senator Scott Ludlam and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts.
Mr Ludlam was born in New Zealand. Indian-born Mr Roberts had failed to renounce his UK citizenship, the court found last month.
Senators Larissa Waters, Fiona Nash and Mr Joyce were born in Australia but dual citizens by descent.
Senator Canavan, who had stood down from the ministry pending the High Court’s decision, was sworn in again yesterday afternoon by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
❝ I am going to make sure that I don’t cry in my beer.
— Barnaby Joyce