According to former British home office lawyer Phillip Gamble, Labor senator Katy Gallagher, who earlier this year acknowledged she was eligible for British citizenship, would have been a British citizen when she first took her seat in Parliament.
This looks bad for Gallagher, however there is some logic to the arguments put up by some others (Keay/Lamb) saying they’ve made reasonable attempts to renounce their foreign citizenship before nominating, but it depends on how much of a lead time is reasonable, so I guess we’ll see what the HCA says on that timing.
“…my grandfather, came to Australia to enlist in the army in fact. As far as I’m concerned, all their affairs are in order – as are mine.”
Yeah, because believing shit worked so well for Roberts.
I suppose it shows that Labor’s high profile candidates don’t get the same amount of vetting as everyone else? I mean, Katy Gallagher was basically parachuted into her position after being the ACT’s Chief Minister.
And just as an addendum to my previous post about Pauline Hanson’s previous attempt to move to the UK permanently with dual-citizenship, I’ve been thinking about it and I just can’t believe that she would seriously have considered a move to the UK because Australia was being overrun by immigrants.
That’s like those redneck, right-wing Americans back in 2012 claiming they’d move to Australia or Canada because Obama won the election.
The UK basically invented the culture of political correctness and large scale foreign immigration. It’s also incredibly socialist compared to Australia. Why she’d even think of going there to escape Australia is absolutely beyond me.
And yes, I know it’s Pauline Hanson that I’m talking about…
I honestly thought Pauline Hanson’s move to the UK was probably about as genuine as the infamous former deputy Western Sydney council mayor’s promise to leave Australia…
so another one down. John Alexandr has confirmed that “on the balance of probabilities” he’s a dual citizen. he’s resigned from parliament and will re-contest the by-election once he has rennounced his UK citizenship
It’s probably safe for the Liberals given the seat’s demographics (dual nationals lol) and the personal popularity he has there, but this is all really bad for Turnbull.
No doubt he’s in breach of the section, wouldn’t surprise me if he hasn’t had conclusive evidence from the UK yet. they’d be looking for something from the first half of last century, remember JA’s father came here in 1911.
I suspect the timing would be to sneak the by-election in before Christmas, interestingly, there is no minimum period between when the writs are issued and polling day for a by-election. Also puts the ball in Shorten’s court regarding any iffy MHRs on the opposition benches, be done and dusted by Christmas or keep it dragging on into January.
What boggles me most about all this is that people who have broken the law, made false declarations and sat illegitimately in parliament for years (sometimes decades) are able to just walk straight back in a few weeks later after a quick by-election.
I don’t think we should financially penalise people or punish them per se but surely they should be barred from returning to parliament for a period of time.
If a company director was convicted of making false declarations and misleading their shareholders then they would be banned from being a company director for a few years.
they should be banned day for day - if they were in parliment for a year - ban them for a year. this is not to say that the party can not put a candidate up - of course they should, but that individual member should be banned
What if the member didn’t know? What if the member is actually a good member and the electorate wants them to stay in? They’ve already voted them in once and if they’re a good memeber they’ll vote them in again. The electorate will put their needs first.
I say the same when people say they should pay all the money back etc… Why? They have done the work, should they not be paid for what they’ve been doing?
Out of interest, how many other things are on these forms which they sign? Is the citizenship one criteria out of 5 or is it 1 out 1000 to meet?
Ignorance is not an excuse when it comes to the law. Politicians are supposed to be professional law-makers, they must be held to a higher standard than the rest of us when it comes to matters involving the law.
And that is why we can’t have good politicians. They’re all needing to be so well versed in the law, career politicians, have to know how to play the game of politics etc… Real people who actually give a toss about their communities don’t make it in because they can’t play the game.
Who would you rather, people like Bill Shorten simply intent on taking down the other side or people like Barnaby Joyce who had faults but knew the agricultural sector and could fight for the battlers.
What about Jacqui Lambie over Eric Abetz? There’s a lot more support in Tasmania from the real people for Jacqui than Eric. As embarrassing as she can be at times and as far out of her depth she can be she seems to be fighting for the people and what she believes in and people talk to her about than Eric does.
