Citizenship furore

MPs and citizenship: it’s a question of common sense. The situation of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce must now have made it obvious to the Turnbull government that, if it survives, it will have to begin the process of amending the constitution’s provisions on the eligibility of MPs. Mr Joyce has admitted he may hold NZ citizenship, and may thus be in breach of section 44(i) of the constitution and ineligible for election to the Australian Parliament. If he is, the government may well fall, having lost its majority in the House of Representatives.

Four MPs have either admitted they have breached section 44(i), or have asked for an adjudication of their status. The section bars citizens of other countries from parliament. The basic principle of section 44(i) – that MPs should be Australian citizens, not citizens of any other country – is sound. Voters naturally expect their parliamentary representatives to be from this country and to represent its, and their, interests, not those of any other country. It is precisely because of globalisation and the ease with which influence can be peddled from outside that the eligibility rules need to be tight.

Parliament’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee examined the issue in 1998 and, recognising its complexity in the modern world, recommended the subsection be replaced with a basic requirement that MPs be Australian citizens, and that the constitution empower Parliament to decide what grounds in relation to foreign allegiance would disqualify MPs from office. It sounds like common sense.