Let ‘natural Australians’ be MPs, government argues
‘The war on coal is over’, says EPA
AUSTRALIA: Disqualifying Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and four other MPs from Parliament because of their dual citizenship would go against the ‘‘operational purpose’’ of the constitution, the federal government has argued in the High Court.
On the first day of hearings into the ‘‘citizenship seven’’ - Joyce and six senators with dual citizenship - government Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue has sought to convince the full bench that five of the MPs, including all of the government MPs under a cloud, should be allowed to remain in Parliament.
Donaghue says Joyce, Nationals senators Matt Canavan and Fiona Nash, crossbencher Nick Xenophon and former Greens co-deputy Larissa Waters should all be cleared because they did not know about their citizenship status and had no reason to believe there was a ’’sufficiently high prospect’’ of any foreign ties.
Appearing on behalf of Attorney-General George Brandis, Donaghue said section 44 of the constitution - which forbids dual citizens serving in parliament - was never intended to capture these sorts of people, who could not be said to have any foreign allegiance.
All five were born in Australia, except for Waters, who was born in Canada to Australian parents. Donaghue argues there should be a distinction between these sorts of ‘‘natural born’’ Australians and overseas-born Australians.
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and former Green Scott Ludlam - who were born in India and New Zealand respectively, to at least one foreign parent - were in the latter category.
The government believes Roberts and Ludlam (who along with Waters has already quit parliament due to dual citizenship) should be ruled ineligible because they were born overseas, came to Australia later in life and should have been aware of the real prospect of foreign citizenship.
Donaghue argued that if any parliamentarian had - or should have had - knowledge of their status ‘‘and they shut their eyes to it’’ then they should be found in breach. This is the test he said applies to Roberts and Ludlam.
Donaghue argued there had always been a distinction made between natural born and naturalised citizens in the past. Only parliamentarians who have ‘‘voluntarily obtained or retained’’ should fall foul of section 44, he said.
The solicitor-general conceded the Commonwealth was asking the court to take a ‘‘narrower’’ view of section 44 than it had previously.
However lawyers for Waters and Ludlam will call for a more literal reading of section 44, arguing ignorance is no defence.
The hearings are expected to continue until tomorrow. - Fairfax
‘‘naturalised’’ UNITED STATES: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt told coal miners in Kentucky yesterday that he will move to repeal a rule limiting greenhousegas emissions from existing power plants, assuring them, ‘‘ The war against coal is over.’’
Speaking at an event in Hazard, Kentucky, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Pruitt said his agency will publish the new proposed rule today.
‘‘Tomorrow, in Washington, D.C., I’ll be a signing a proposed rule to withdraw the so-called Clean Power Plan of the past administration, and thus begin the effort to withdraw that rule,’’ Pruitt said.
A 43-page draft of the proposal, which was obtained by The Washington Post and other news outlets last week, argues that the agency overstepped its legal authority in seeking to force utilities to reduce carbon emissions outside their actual facilities to meet federal emissions targets. It does not offer a replacement plan for regulating emissions of carbon dioxide, which the Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA is obligated to do. Rather, the agency said it plans to seek public input on how best to cut emissions from natural-gas and coalfired power plants.
EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in an interview yesterday that Pruitt chose to speak about his plans in Kentucky because coal workers have a direct economic stake in policies aimed at curbing emissions from coal burning. ‘‘He’s speaking directly to people in coal county about how the rule negatively affected the whole industry,’’ Bowman said.
Reaction to the announcement was divided sharply along ideological lines, with environmental and public health advocates decrying it, and industry groups welcoming the move.
‘‘With this news, Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt will go down in infamy for launching one of the most egregious attacks ever on public health, our climate, and the safety of every community in the United States,’’ Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. ‘‘He’s proposing to throw out a plan that would prevent thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of childhood asthma attacks every year.’’
But National Rural Electric Cooperative Association chief executive Jim Matheson, one of the utility groups that challenged the Obamaera rule, said rescinding the regulation would provide his members with the flexibility to use their existing plants to provide ‘‘reliable, affordable power’’ to local customers. - Washington Post