NATION Pollies reveal status tactics
AUSTRALIA’S unique status as a nation with a high proportion of immigrants will be a key argument in a court case to resolve the dual citizenship fiasco engulfing federal politics.
The strategy was revealed in the High Court yesterday, where there were also claims that Senator Matt Canavan may have been an Italian citizen since 1983 and Senator Malcolm Roberts’ UK citizenship may not have been renounced until after the election.
The court was also told Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will face a barrage of questions from political rival Tony Windsor’s lawyers about whether he took “reasonable steps” to find out if he was a New Zealander.
Under the Australian Constitution, foreign citizens cannot hold office.
The constitutional quirk has netted Mr Joyce, Senator Canavan, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts and former Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters – who will have their cases heard in October and are likely to be joined by senators Fiona Nash and Nick Xenophon.
Yesterday, Senator Canavan’s barrister – former solicitor- general David Bennett QC – said data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics would show the situation was “so ridiculous” that Section 44 of the constitution “should exclude citizenship by descent”.
“We believe that we will be able to demonstrate if one applies Section 44 to citizenship by descent a very high proportion of the Australian population – possibly in the order of 50 per cent – would be disqualified,” he said.
He also revealed Senator Canavan could have been an Italian citizen since 1983 – when the country’s citizenship laws changed to include the descendants of women – despite previously saying his mother signed him up without his knowledge 11 years ago.
Senator Roberts’ barrister, Robert Newlinds SC, said he did not accept he was anything other than an Australian citizen and while he sent an email to UK authorities before the election renouncing citizenship, the paperwork was not confirmed until after the vote.
Solicitor- General Stephen Donaghue QC said the cases of Mr Joyce, Senator Canavan and Ms Waters were similar because they did not know they were citizens of another country. He said Senator Roberts and Mr Ludlam’s cases were different to the others because they may reasonably have been expected to know they were foreign citizens in the past. FANTASY bras, angel wings and a lot of cleavage — the first faces to be cast in the 2017 Victoria’s Secret runway show are here.
Aussie models Kelly Gale and Victoria Lee, and New Zealand- born but Australianbased Georgia Fowler have made the cut for this year’s catwalk.
“With all things celestial this week ... I can say, I am truly over the moon to be confirmed in the # VSFashionShow,” Fowler wrote on Instagram.
This will be Lee’s first time modelling for the lingerie giant and Gale’s third time.
Lee and Fowler – who made her VS debut last year – were photographed at the brand’s castings in New York this week, along with Australian models Bridget Malcolm and Shanina Shaik ( though Malcolm and Shaik have so far not commented publicly about whether they were successful).
Victoria’s Secret has confirmed “Angels” including Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge, Candice Swanepoel and Behati Prinsloo will also walk in this year’s runway show, to be staged in China.
The VS parade is massive business for models, who last year had a collective annual income of more than $ 50 million, according to Forbes.
Fowler had to audition for Victoria’s Secret five times before finally being cast last year. “That was such a dream of mine,” Fowler said. “It was such a dream and it was so much fun. I walked down the catwalk and just did this goofy dance and I was like ‘ Woah, what did I just do’?”