Frydenberg scare as PM cans audit

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rejected calls for a citizenship audit of MPs, saying only the High Court has the power to determine who is eligible for parliament.

He said there was no place in Australia for “witch-hunts”, taking aim at critics of Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg over whether he held Hungarian citizenship through his mother.

“Has this witch-hunt become so absurd that people are seriously claiming that Josh Frydenberg is the citizen of a country which has stripped his mother and her family of their citizenship and would have pushed them into the gas chambers had it not been that the war was ended before they had time to do so?” Mr Turnbull asked

Treasuer Scott Morrison lashed out at the media over the Frydenberg saga.

The Australian reported that Mr Frydenberg had hired a consultant in Budapest to see if he was a Hungarian citizen.

Mr Morrison said the Australian public had “turned down the volume” on the issue and accused journalists of orchestrating “Salem witch trials”.

“Enough time, money and energy has been wasted on the endless discussion of these issues, and I think Australians are fed up with it,” he said.

Mr Frydenberg dismissed the claim as “absurd”.

His mother, Erica, was born in Hungary in 1943 and fled with her family during the Holocaust.

In a bid to account for Jews who found themselves stateless during World War II, Hungarian citizenship law states any person born in Hungary between 1941 and 1945 becomes a citizen. A child of a Hungarian citizen is a Hungarian citizen upon their birth.

Meanwhile, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has confirmed Stephen Parry confided in him weeks ago about his citizenship status.

Senator Fifield said the former Senate President mentioned “a few weeks ago he was endeavouring to checking his family’s records”.

Senator Parry has been under fire for waiting two-and-a-half months after the “citizenship seven” MPs were referred to the High Court to reveal he might be a dual citizen.