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Australia's Deputy PM disqualified from Parliament over dual citizenship Australia's Deputy PM disqualified from Parliament over dual citizenship
(about 11 hours later)
Australia's High Court has disqualified the deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce from sitting in Parliament in a ruling that could cost the government its slender majority. Australia's High Court has disqualified the country's deputy prime minister and four senators from sitting in Parliament in a unanimous ruling that could cost the government its slender majority.
The decision on Friday to disqualify the deputy PM over a constitutional ban on dual citizens sitting in Parliament means a by-election will be held in December. Critics have condemned as outdated the 116-year-old constitutional ban on "a subject or citizen of a foreign power" standing for Parliament in a country where almost half the people are immigrants or have an overseas-born parent.
Mr Joyce will be able to stand for re-election, having renounced the New Zealand citizenship he unknowingly inherited from his father. The seven judges rejected the government's argument that five of the politicians - including three cabinet members - should be exempt from the ban because they had not voluntarily acquired or retained citizenship of another country.
While the judges said it may be harsh to disqualify Australian-born candidates who had no reason to believe they were not exclusively Australian, "those facts must always have been knowable".
They also pointed to the "difficulties of proving or disproving a person's state of mind" and the "regrettable possibility of a want of candour" if ignorance of dual citizenship was recognised as an excuse.
The decision to disqualify Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce means a by-election will be held for his rural electoral district on December 2, the earliest possible date.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative coalition has a single-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives where parties form governments.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative coalition has a single-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives where parties form governments.
And with the government trailing the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls, voters could use the by-election to toss both Joyce and his government out of office. Mr Joyce will be able to stand for re-election, having renounced the New Zealand citizenship he unknowingly inherited from his father. He is likely to retain the seat with the absence this time of his last election rival, independent candidate Tony Windsor, who will not run again.
Speaking to reporters after the court ruling, Mr Joyce said: “I was always apprehensive, some people say I'm a natural pessimist, I'm naturally cautious and I was always prepared for this outcome. Mr Joyce later apologised to his electoral division for the inconvenience of a by-election.
“I'm going to make sure that I don't cry in my beer, I'm going to get back to work and work hard for the people of my electorate.” "In my gut I thought this is the way it was going to go," he told reporters.
The court also disqualified four of the six senators referred to court, including government minister Fiona Nash. "I'm going to make sure that I don't cry in my beer, I'm going to get back to work and work hard for the people of my electorate."
The court also disqualified four of the six senators whose qualifications to be elected were debated in a three-day hearing earlier this month.
The disqualified senators included government minister Fiona Nash, Joyce's deputy in the Nationals party, who inherited British citizenship from her Scottish father.
Another government minister, Matt Canavan, who the court heard might have inherited Italian citizenship from his Australian-born mother through his Italian grandparents, was allowed to stay in Parliament.
The judges found that they could not be satisfied that Mr Canavan was Italian on the evidence presented to court.
Nick Xenophon was also allowed to stay in Parliament. He was born to Cypriot- and Greek-born parents and checked with both embassies to ensure he was not a citizen of those countries. He later found he was British because his father left Cyprus while it was a British colony.
The judges ruled that Mr Xenophon's status as a British Overseas Citizen did not give him the rights of a foreign citizen because it did not entitle him to enter or live in Britain.
Disqualified senators are replaced by members of their own parties without an election so the balance of power is not altered.Disqualified senators are replaced by members of their own parties without an election so the balance of power is not altered.
Another government minister Matt Canavan, who the court heard might have inherited Italian citizenship from his Australian-born mother through his Italian grandparents, was allowed to stay in Parliament. Mr Canavan was sworn back in as a minister for resources and northern Australia late on Friday while Mr Turnbull took over Mr Joyce's portfolios of agriculture and water resources. Two acting ministers took over Mr Nash's portfolios.
Nick Xenophon was also allowed to stay in Parliament. He was born to Cypriot and Greek-born parents and checked with both embassies to ensure he wasn't a citizen of those countries. "The decision of the court today is clearly not the outcome we were hoping for, but the business of government goes on," Mr Turnbull said.
He later discovered he was British because his father left Cyprus while it was a British colony. He said he would refer the court's decision to a parliament committee to determine whether the constitution should be changed, "ensuring, in our multicultural society, that all Australians are able confidently to stand for and serve in our Parliament".
The constitution bans dual nationals from Parliament, a prohibition that critics have condemned as outdated in a country where almost half the people are immigrants or have an overseas-born parent. Three parliamentary investigations recommended in the 1980s and 1990s that the prohibition on dual citizens be removed from the constitution through a national referendum.
The lawmakers were exposed as dual citizens as media scrutiny escalated after Scott Ludlam declared in July that he was a New Zealander and had been illegally elected three times over a decade. But successive governments have failed to act, perhaps because of the difficulty in persuading Australians to change their constitution. Of the 44 referendums Australia has held since 1901, only eight have been carried, and none since 1977.
The seven politicians said they did not know they were dual nationals when they ran for election last year.
Richard Di Natale, leader of the minor Greens party, praised the honesty and integrity of his former deputies Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, who resigned in July after discovering they were New Zealand and Canadian citizens respectively. None of the other five resigned.
"If people are going to have faith in our democracy, then politicians need to start acting with some integrity with some decency and take responsibility for their actions," he told reporters.
The politicians were exposed as dual citizens as media scrutiny escalated after Mr Ludlam declared in July that he had been illegally elected three times over a decade.
Previously only two politicians had ever been caught out by the foreign citizen ban, although other dual citizens have almost certainly served in the Parliament undetected.Previously only two politicians had ever been caught out by the foreign citizen ban, although other dual citizens have almost certainly served in the Parliament undetected.
The government had argued that only Ludlam and Malcolm Roberts, a senator in the minor One Nation party, should be expelled because they had failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that they only held Australian citizenship.
Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue had told the High Court judges that the other five should not be disqualified from Parliament for breaching the constitution because they did not voluntarily acquire or retain citizenship of another country.
A clause in the constitution says “a subject or citizen of a foreign power” is not eligible to be elected to Parliament.
Donaghue, however, argued that the clause “cannot be read literally”.
“If a person is not aware either that they are a dual citizen or of a significant prospect that they are, in our submission by definition that person cannot have a split allegiance,” he told the court.
Bret Walker, a lawyer for Joyce and Nash, told the court that neither knew until recently that they were dual citizens of New Zealand and Britain, respectively.
As soon as they found out, they took all reasonable steps required to sever their foreign ties, Walker said.
“There's no split allegiance where you're not aware of one,” Walker told the court. “You cannot heed a call you cannot hear.”
The seven judges delivered their decision a day after Parliament was adjourned for a month. Had it come 24 hours earlier, Joyce would have suffered the embarrassment of having to immediately leave the House of Representatives where only lawmakers are allowed.
APAP