Kiwis ‘conspire’ to bring down Australian government

Coalition crisis as deputy prime minister tries to fight off citizenship row (and barbs from actress)

AUSTRALIA’S prime minister has accused New Zealand’s Labour party of conspiring to bring down his government as his coalition tries to save its one-seat majority. Malcolm Turnbull also faced a barbed attack on his deputy from Amber Heard, the actress and former wife of Johnny Depp.

In a chaotic day in Canberra, Mr Turnbull’s embattled government was defeated in a vote as questions continued over the future of Barnaby Joyce, the deputy prime minister, an outspo- ken rural MP who, it has emerged, has dual citizenship with New Zealand. Several of the coalition MPS were not in the chamber to vote.

Mr Joyce was born in Australia but has dual nationality via his father, a New Zealander who moved to Australia in 1947. His dismissal – on the grounds that the constitution allows only full citizens to stand for parliament – would mean that the ruling conservative coalition would lose its majority in the House of Representatives.

As he fended off opposition attacks and insisted on his legitimacy, Mr Joyce was the target of a series of mocking tweets from Heard.

The actress made little attempt to hide her delight at the troubles engulfing Mr Joyce, who threatened to kill her dogs Pistol and Boo after she and Depp smuggled the Yorkshire terriers into the country in 2015. “When Barnaby Joyce said ‘no one is above the law’ I didn’t realise he meant New Zealand law,” Heard tweeted, adding: “To comfort Mr Joyce in his hour of need, I have sent him a box of New Zealand’s finest Kiwi fruit (assuming this passes his biosecurity laws).”

Trying to secure his position, Mr Joyce said that he had renounced his New Zealand citizenship. But the MP’S fate is in the hands of the High Court, which will rule on his eligibility later this year.

The dual citizenship crisis – which has already caused two MPS to resign – sparked bizarre scenes in parliament, as the government accused the Labor opposition of “treachery” and claimed it had colluded with New Zealand. “We have learnt this morning the Australian Labor Party has been conspiring with the NZ Labour Party to undermine the position of the deputy prime minister and the government of Australia,” Mr Turnbull told a party room meeting in Canberra yesterday.

Christopher Pyne, a cabinet minister, said: “Clearly the Labor party are involved in a conspiracy using a foreign government, in this case New Zealand, to try and bring down the Australian government.”

Jacinda Arden, New Zealand’s Labour leader, denied the conspiracy claim as “false” and “regrettable”. With some coalition MPS missing, a bill condemning the government for failures over climate change was passed but overturned in a subsequent vote.