Deputy PM Ruled Ineligible to Sit in Parliament
Five of the seven federal politicians who fell foul of Australia citizenship rules have been disqualified from Parliament, including the country’s deputy Prime Minister.
Those ruled ineligible to sit in Parliament by the High Court in Australia are: deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, former senator Scott Ludlam, deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash, former Greens senator Larissa Waters, and One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts.
Section 44 of the constitution bans dual citizens from being eligible for election. There will now be a byelection in Mr Joyce’s seat of New England and the Government loses its oneseat majority.
Nick Xenophon and Matthew Canavan are safe, the High Court ruled. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce revealed to Parliament in August his father was born in New Zealand. Despite emigrating to Australia before his son was born, New Zealand law made Mr Joyce a Kiwi by descent. He has since renounced his New Zealand credentials.
Matt Canavan resigned from the Turnbull ministry when he discovered he may have been an Italian citizen by descent, through his Italian-born grandparents. Fiona Nash, Deputy Nationals Leader, learnt she was a UK citizen by descent, because her estranged father was born in Scotland. She argued she did not know, because she’d had minimal contact with her dad growing up – but she did understand her sisters, who were born in the UK, were dual nationals. The High Court has already ruled One Nation party member and Senate crossbencher Malcolm Roberts was still a British citizen at the time of the 2016 federal election, after being born in India to a Welsh father and an Australian mother.
The former Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters had already left their seats and south Australian crossbencher Nick Xenophon has signalled plans to quit to run in next year’s state election.