Labor senator set to face the Ecua-door
ONE of Labor’s attack dogs over the citizenship crisis, Katy Gallagher, can be revealed as a possible Ecuadorean dual citizen.
Senator Gallagher, the former ACT chief minister, has said publicly her parents were British and that she has renounced her British citizenship, but her mother’s entry card to Australia shows she was born in the South American nation.
Article seven of the Ecuadorean constitution, established in 2008 and updated in December 2015, states nationality is obtained by birth or naturalisation and shall not be forfeited through marriage, dissolution or acquiring another nationality.
“The following persons are Ecuadorean by birth: persons born abroad of a mother or father born in Ecuador and their descendants up to the third degree of consanguinity.”
Ms Gallagher’s spokesman confirmed she has not renounced Ecuadorean citizenship and has not sought legal advice on whether she is a citizen under their constitution.
“Katy is not and has never been a citizen of Ecuador,” he said.
Ms Gallagher’s case is similar to those of Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash, because it is citizenship through descent, which had never been actively sought.
Labor has refused to release documents to show if a group of Labor MPs and senators are dual citizens, and thus, they have avoided
High Court.
Located in the National Archive, the passenger card for Ms Gallagher’s mother Elizabeth Mary, known as Betsy, shows she was born in Ecuador. She stated her nationality as British (English). Ms Gallagher has attacked the Nationals leadership saying they face disqualification from parliament. referral to the