Citizenship furore focus on Labor senator

LABOR senator Katy Gallagher is likely an Ecuadorean citizen, according to a senior legal counsel to the country’s former president.

In a legal memo, Hernan Perez Loose wrote there was “no doubt” that Senator Gallagher was an Ecuadorean national if information on the public record was correct.

The memo, prepared for The New Daily, concluded if Senator Gallagher was born in Australia in 1970 and her mother in Ecuador in 1943, then she would be a citizen because the country’s current constitution was retrospective.

The news that Senator Gallagher may be an Ecuadorean citizen was based on her mother’s arrival card to Australia, which shows she was born in Ecuador and because the country’s constitution states nationality is obtained by both or naturalisation and shall not be forfeited by acquiring another nationality.

Constitutional experts George Williams and Mary Crock have both suggested there are questions for the High Court to consider regarding Senator Gallagher.

But Labor maintains the Ecuadorean constitution is not retrospective and that would mean Senator Gallagher was never a citizen. These revelations follow the referral of a number of parliamentarians including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and former resources minister Matt Canavan to the High Court.

The Australian Constitution does not allow dual citizens to sit in Parliament.

Dr Perez, who wrote the memo released today, was legal counsel to the president of Ecuador from 1982 to 1984, and to the country’s AttorneyGeneral in 1980.

“From the background information provided to us, we cannot conclude if the person who was born in Australia acquired the Ecuadorean nationality by birth,” Dr Perez wrote.

“However, if one of the requisites mentioned above is met ... then with no doubt we can conclude that this person did in fact acquire the Ecuadorean nationality by birth.”