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Malcolm Roberts' UK citizenship queries sent to non-existent email addresses, court hears Malcolm Roberts' UK citizenship queries sent to nonexistent email addresses, court hears
(about 3 hours later)
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts sent two messages enquiring about his British citizenship to email addresses that did not exist, the high court has heard. Malcolm Roberts sent an email headed “am I still a British citizen?” in a bid to check his status with UK diplomatic officials before nominating for the Senate, the high court has heard.
The Queensland senator has previously claimed he believed he was only ever a citizen of Australia, although last month revealed he took steps to renounce his British citizenship around the time of the 2016 federal election. But the One Nation senator, who insists he always believed he was only ever Australian, never received a response because he used two non-existent email addresses, the court heard in Brisbane on Thursday.
“I only ever thought I was an Australian citizen, that’s all I believed, that I’m an Australian citizen only,” Senator Roberts told Sky News in July. Barrister Robert Newlinds, acting for Roberts in a case that will decide his eligibility for parliament, said he would not contest expert evidence that his client was in fact British by descent when his senate nomination took effect on 8 June last year.
The high court heard in Brisbane on Thursday that Roberts was not only at one stage a dual citizen of Britain and Australia, but was also born an Indian citizen. The constitution prohibits dual citizens from standing, but the court has previously found a candidate may be safe if they take “reasonable steps” to renounce.
Roberts was born to an Australian mother and Welsh father in India in 1955. However Roberts in cross-examination declined to say whether he personally accepted this, saying: “I’ve only ever thought I was Australian until I heard it in court this morning.”
The court heard an expert in Indian law found Roberts would have been an Indian citizen by birth but automatically lost it after he took Australian citizenship at 19. The court heard reports by overseas legal experts sourced by the solicitor-general said the Queensland senator, born in India in 1955 to a British father, had been both a citizen of the UK and India before being naturalized as an Australian in 1974.
Roberts has previously stated he sent two emails to the British consulate on 1 May and 6 June 2016 to renounce his British citizenship. But the court was told on Thursday the email addresses to which those messages were sent were invalid, with one decommissioned in 2010 and the other simply incorrect. A third email address used for the second message, however, was valid and correct. But he automatically lost his Indian citizenship when he was naturalised at the age of 19.
The court heard Roberts said he found the email addresses “from his research on the internet”. Newlinds said he would argue his client had a “suspicion” he may have been a British citizen before nominating – but this was not the same as being aware there was “a real possibility” as argued by the solicitor-general.
Roberts denied the heading “am I still a British citizen?” to an email he directed at the British consulate in Brisbane on 1 May last year suggested he knew he had had previously been British.
Barrister Stephen Lloyd, acting as friend of the court or its appointed questioner, said Roberts sent this to two email addresses that were invalid – one that hadn’t been used since 2010, and another that was “clearly flawed” as it ended with “sydney.uk”.
In a second email on 6 June to those addresses, and a third valid address, Roberts complained about not receiving a response.
This was because the first email was “not sent to emails in fact used by the British consulate in Brisbane or [the high commission] in Canberra”, Lloyd said.
Roberts said he could not remember how he found the email addresses at the time but he likely used Google. Newlinds said the key date for Roberts was 8 June, when his nomination paperwork was lodged.
With the solicitor-general having argued that Roberts’ awareness of prior British citizenship was a key to deciding whether he took reasonable steps to renounce,
Lloyd pressed the Queensland senator on why he used the word “still” in his first email, arguing it showed his “state of mind” was he knew he had once been.
“If there was a possibility I was British then it would have been that case that I had been British,” Roberts replied, later adding: “I reject your suggestion.”
He also denied the opening line of the email, “if I remained a British citizen…”, suggested the same thing.
“My enquiry was to explore the possibility of being British – the key word is ‘if’,” Roberts said.
Roberts said he always believed he was Australian because of “conversations around our family”.
“But you didn’t come to Australia until 1962,” Judge Patrick Keane said.
Roberts said his belief was reinforced when learning around September last year he had travelled as a child under his Australian mother’s passport.
However, when pressed by Keane and later Newlinds about the clause in his mother’s passport stating he had not attained Australian citizenship, Roberts said he had not noticed this.
Roberts is one of eight MPs from across the political spectrum recently caught out by the constitutional rule barring federal politicians from holding dual citizenship.Roberts is one of eight MPs from across the political spectrum recently caught out by the constitutional rule barring federal politicians from holding dual citizenship.
He is expected to be cross-examined by government lawyers about his knowledge and “state of mind” in relation to his UK citizenship.
Solicitor-general Stephen Donaghue QC has previously said the Commonwealth would argue for the senator’s disqualification, if crucial documents were found to be dated after his nomination in June 2016.Solicitor-general Stephen Donaghue QC has previously said the Commonwealth would argue for the senator’s disqualification, if crucial documents were found to be dated after his nomination in June 2016.