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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/02/derryn-hinch-wont-be-referred-to-high-court-over-citizenship-concerns
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| Derryn Hinch won't be referred to high court over citizenship concerns | Derryn Hinch won't be referred to high court over citizenship concerns |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The crossbench senator Derryn Hinch will not be referred to the high court over concerns he was ineligible to sit in the Australian parliament. | The crossbench senator Derryn Hinch will not be referred to the high court over concerns he was ineligible to sit in the Australian parliament. |
| Hinch had promised to refer himself to the court this week following revelations he still held a US social security card from his time living in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. | Hinch had promised to refer himself to the court this week following revelations he still held a US social security card from his time living in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. |
| On Saturday Hinch said the attorney general, George Brandis, had told him advice from constitutional lawyers suggested he was not in breach of the constitution and his election was legal. | On Saturday Hinch said the attorney general, George Brandis, had told him advice from constitutional lawyers suggested he was not in breach of the constitution and his election was legal. |
| Section 44 of the constitution disqualifies from parliament anyone “entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power”. | |
| Hinch said he was advised on Friday night by Brandis that constitutional lawyers had concluded he was not in breach of the constitution. | |
| Neither the government or the opposition would seek to refer him to the high court when parliament resumed on Monday, he said. | |
| He said it was a “huge relief” to be cleared after a “malevolent” person went to the media with the allegations. | |
| “I’m glad the government has accepted the same advice given to me this week by two august constitutional lawyers,” he said in a statement on Saturday. | |
| “I have never been entitled to the rights and privileges of a foreign power. This was a vindictive slur.” | |
| Earlier in the week Hinch had said he was seeking legal advice on the matter. He said he had never been a US citizen or held a green card, but might have to refer himself to the high court. | |
| He said he had since sought advice from constitutional lawyers about whether his social security number could render him ineligible to sit in the parliament, and “they think I’m in good shape”. | He said he had since sought advice from constitutional lawyers about whether his social security number could render him ineligible to sit in the parliament, and “they think I’m in good shape”. |
| Three government ministers – Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan – as well as the One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, and Nick Xenophon, the leader of the NXT, will also have their eligibility examined by the high court. | Three government ministers – Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan – as well as the One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, and Nick Xenophon, the leader of the NXT, will also have their eligibility examined by the high court. |
| The first batch of cases will be heard in October. | The first batch of cases will be heard in October. |