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Ninth Australian lawmaker quits as citizenship crisis widens

 

Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore announces her resignation at a NEWs conference at her office in Adelaide, November 22, 2017. AAP/David Mariuz/via REUTERS

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A ninth Australian lawmaker quit parliament on Wednesday after discovering she was a dual national, the latest casualty in a widening constitutional crisis that has already cost the government its majority.

 

The resignation of Skye Kakoschke-Moore, one of three senators in the centre-right Nick Xenophon Team, over the surprise revelation that she was a British citizen by descent, does not affect the government's position in the upper house.

 

"Their advice was extremely surprising to me," Kakoschke-Moore told reporters in Adelaide, after having learnt from Britain's Home Office that her mother's birth in then-colonial Singapore in 1957 made her British by descent.

 

Australia's 116-year-old constitution bans dual citizens from holding national office, in a bid to prevent split allegiances.

 

The crisis, which is likely to ripple even wider in coming weeks as lawmakers are required to prove their status, has already cut a swath through Australia's parliament.

 

The ruling centre-right coalition lost its one-seat majority in the lower house after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was found ineligible for office and expelled by the High Court. Another resignation has since weakened it further.

 

Adherence to the dual-citizenship rule, in a country where more than half the population of 24 million were either themselves, or have a parent, born overseas, has only recently come under the spotlight, with the High Court adopting a strict interpretation of the law.

 

In response, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered all lawmakers to prove they comply with the laws by Dec. 5, and at least one lawmaker besides those who have quit has raised the possibility that she is ineligible.

 

Senate votes from 2016 will be recounted to decide on a replacement for Kakoschke-Moore.

 

By-elections set for Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, to replace Joyce and a lower-house government lawmaker who resigned on discovering he was British, are shaping as crucial for the government's survival.

 

Joyce is expected to retain his seat, internal party polling published by the Australian newspaper showed, but former tennis champion John Alexander must contend with a high-profile rival in former New South Wales state Premier Kristina Keneally.

 

The government would be reduced to minority rule if Alexander lost, forcing it to depend on a handful of independent lawmakers to retain power and pass laws.

 

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-22

[edwinchester]

Remarkable that so few of Australia's finest are actually aware of their nationality/nationalities.

[DoctorG]

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkable that so few of Australia's finest are actually aware of their nationality/nationalities.

Yes, it would be a very rare situation that you would not at least suspect that you might be a dual national.

[tandor]

5 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkable that so few of Australia's finest are actually aware of their nationality/nationalities.

...one would think it would be a major question to answer/declare on their initial nomination form.

[rwill]

she was born in Australia but is being declared British because her mom was born in Singapore?  Did her family actually go to the embassy to get her declared a british citizen?

 

[Briggsy]

12 minutes ago, rwill said:

Did her family actually go to the embassy to get her declared a british citizen?

No need. She is automatically British by descent. She would need to renounce her British citizenship to stop being a dual national.

[whatsupdoc]

Wouldn't it be easier (and more sensible) to change the law and allow dual citizenship for MP's?

[Dumbastheycome]

1 hour ago, Briggsy said:

No need. She is automatically British by descent. She would need to renounce her British citizenship to stop being a dual national.

So is it  not at least  slightly curious   that  these  people  who  desire  a  position  of  power  concede  and  resign rather  than  abandon   dual  nationality ?

Maybe  the  rule shows  it's  purpose.

[Briggsy]

15 minutes ago, Dumbastheycome said:

So is it  not at least  slightly curious   that  these  people  who  desire  a  position  of  power  concede  and  resign rather  than  abandon   dual  nationality ?

Maybe  the  rule shows  it's  purpose.

Ah, the die was already cast. They were not eligible to stand since they held dual nationality. Renouncing the foreign citizenship now would be too late, they would still have to resign.

 

They have also lost a lot of credibility in the voters' eyes both by lying in the first place and then delaying admitting their status for many months.

 

Perhaps, yes, the rule has served its purpose. However, I am sceptical about divided loyalties, I feel it is more about the potential advantages dual nationality offers.

[Dumbastheycome]

50 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

Ah, the die was already cast. They were not eligible to stand since they held dual nationality. Renouncing the foreign citizenship now would be too late, they would still have to resign.

 

They have also lost a lot of credibility in the voters' eyes both by lying in the first place and then delaying admitting their status for many months.

 

Perhaps, yes, the rule has served its purpose. However, I am sceptical about divided loyalties, I feel it is more about the potential advantages dual nationality offers.

Fair  comment.  I  would  agree   dual  nationality  has  some  potential  advantages .

But as  you  say   it  damages  credibility  when ignored  or  hidden in  the  face  of regulations as  applied  in  the  Australian  situation.

Perhaps  a  tough call  for  those  effected  but as well some public  measure  of  the  integrity  of political aspirants.

[gk10002000]

8 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Remarkable that so few of Australia's finest are actually aware of their nationality/nationalities.

Yes.  I mean, the lady didn't know she was born in Singapore until now? 

[tifino]

 

what if one of them was born in Hong Kong??

 

technically half-Pom back then

 

and now 1/3 Pom, 1/3 Chinese?

 

but anyhow, the dual nationaltiy block was good for keeping the boat people out of a seat in the past,

and now, the so-called refugees from overwhelming parliament, and bringing in Sharia

 

... look at Europe...

 

[Gillyflower]

When I was a child in OZ we lived near a camp that was for BALTS (before they became New Australians).  The people came from Latvia, Lithuania and other Baltic countries.  Then it was for the 10 pound  Poms.  It never occurred to me that I was English.  I was Oz!!!!!  It was only years later when I decided to go and live in France, that I realized that I could claim Brit. citizenship.  At that time France and Australia had no diplomatic relations, no airline contact, no telephone contact AND no postal contact.  My husband was already in France  and we had no contact.  I worked with a girl who had emigrated with her Dutch family.  Hersister worked with the Dutch petrol country (can't think which one).  They took my mail, sent it to Amsterdam and then on to France.   My husband sent mail to the Commonwealth Bank in London, who didn't seem to have heard of the ban,  and sent the mail to me.  To travel I had to get a Brit passport.  In my street, Italians, us, Australian (with a French name), German, Scottish, and so on.  In the next street all the Balts- and there were dozens of them. 

 

In the context of today.  My Dad was in the RN.  The fleet came out to OZ. He thought it was just bloody wonderful, so transferred to the RAN.  I was the only one born in Australia.  What I am trying to say in a long winded way is that a hellof a lot of people around me were first generation OZ.  But we WERE Australians.

 

I think I will stop, because this story upsets me rather.

[simple1]

19 hours ago, tifino said:

 

what if one of them was born in Hong Kong??

 

technically half-Pom back then

 

and now 1/3 Pom, 1/3 Chinese?

 

but anyhow, the dual nationaltiy block was good for keeping the boat people out of a seat in the past,

and now, the so-called refugees from overwhelming parliament, and bringing in Sharia

 

... look at Europe...

 

From your post I assume you're not Australian. Avail yourself of facts, rather than posting bigoted nonsense