NATION BLIMEY, NICK’S IN A BRIT OF STRIFE
SOUTH Australian powerbroker Nick Xenophon has revealed he may be a British citizen, making him the third parliamentarian in a week who may be ineligible to sit in the Senate.
Senator Xenophon yesterday said he was making inquiries with the British Home Office after he was made aware his father, born in Cyprus when it was a British colony, may have had British citizenship that passed to him by descent.
Mr Xenophon leads a crucial bloc of senators on which the Turnbull Government relies for support.
“I’ve done everything in good faith, I’ve never had citizenship of another country, I don’t ever want to have citizenship of another country,” he said yesterday.
His revelations follow the shock discovery by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce this week that he was also a New Zealand citizen, and Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash’s announcement on Thursday she was a dual- British citizen.
The continuing dual- citizenship drama has created a crisis for the Government. Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan resigned as resources minister after claiming his mother applied for Italian citizenship on his behalf without his knowledge. Dual citizens are not eligible to sit in Parliament.
Mr Xenophon’s office would not confirm if passenger logs obtained by News Corp and showing a Theodoros Xenophou travelled from Cyprus to Melbourne in 1951 as a British national related to Mr Xenophon’s father.
The senator’s father Theo Xenophou arrived in Australia from Cyprus that year.
The Turnbull Government has referred Mr Joyce and Senator Canavan to the High Court over their citizenship status, but is confident they will remain eligible to sit in parliament, as will Ms Nash, who has not yet been referred.
It is expected the Government will argue that because Mr Joyce and Ms Nash did not know about their dual citizenship until last week, it was not possible for them to have allegiances to other countries.
If the UK Home Office confirms Mr Xenophon is a dual citizen, he could argue the same position.
But Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong demanded Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sack Mr Joyce and Ms Nash from Cabinet.
Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam resigned after revealing they had Canadian and New Zealand citizenships respectively.
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts has been referred to the High Court over his possible British citizenship.