Aussie deputy PM a Kiwi who may have to quit
AUSTRALIA/NZ: Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has New Zealand citizenship, Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne’s office has confirmed.
This makes him ineligible to stand for Parliament as only soleaustralian citizens may do so.
Dunne’s office told Stuff that the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) looked into the matter after receiving questions from Fairfax Media Australia last week.
DIA received legal advice that Joyce was a citizen by descent, as his father was born in New Zealand. This was checked by Crown Law, and the advice was then conveyed to Dunne and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
However, DIA is at this point not confirming this. Joyce has asked the Australian government to refer him to the High Court after he was asked a series of questions about whether he could be a dual citizen of New Zealand.
Joyce says he has advice from the Australian solicitor-general that he is in the clear.
But the New Zealand High Commission has told him he might be a New Zealand citizen by descent.
Joyce says he was ‘‘shocked’’ to hear that. He was born in Australia and has never applied for New Zealand citizenship
He told Parliament he had decided to refer himself to the High Court for clarification but would not resign from cabinet and would remain as the member for New England.
‘‘Neither I, nor my parents, have ever had any reason to believe I may be a citizen of another country. I was born in Australia in 1967 to an Australian mother and think I am fifthgeneration. My father was born in New Zealand and came to Australia in 1947 as a British subject. In fact we were all British subjects at that time.
‘‘The government has taken legal advice from the solicitorgeneral. On the basis of the solicitor-general’s advice, the government is of the firm view that I would not be found to be disqualified by the operation of section 44 of the constitution from serving as the member of New England. However, to provide clarification to this very important area of the law, for this and future parliaments, I have asked the government to refer the matter.
‘‘Given the strength of the legal advice the government has received, the prime minister has asked that I remain as deputy prime minister and continue my ministerial duties.’’
But experts believe Joyce could well be a dual citizen, potentially disqualifying him from the Australian Parliament and putting the Turnbull government’s slim majority at risk.
Under New Zealand law anyone born overseas to a New Zealand father between 1949 and 1978 is considered a ‘‘citizen by descent’’.
While there is a process for registering New Zealand citizenship by descent in order to attain a passport, University of Auckland international law expert Anna Hood believes that may not matter.
‘‘If Barnaby’s father was indeed a New Zealand citizen in 1967 then it looks like Barnaby may have become a NZ citizen at birth courtesy of section 7 of the 1948 Act,’’ Hood said. – Stuff