The Australian Constitution, the ‘birth certificate of our nation' provides the basic rules for the government of Australia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
National party leader Barnaby Joyce and deputy leader Fiona Nash face high court cases over their citizenship; the constitution says parliamentarians cannot be ministers if not validly elected.
Turnbull government minister Fiona Nash has referred herself to the High Court because of her Scottish descent. Senator Nash revealed in the Senate last week that she believes she is a dual UK citizen. Nash has a Scottish father, giving her automatic citizenship by descent.
Joyce and Nash are insisting on remaining in their posts while their matters are heard unlike their colleague Matt Canavan.
Greens Senators Scott Ludlum and Larissa Waters resigned when they discovered they had dual citizenship.
This is a mess. Why the law has not been challenged before now is baffling considering the multi cultural country Australia is.
Nash, Joyce and Canavan would rightly be surprised by the developments. Senator Nash was born in Australia, and one would think that would be enough to be a ‘valid’ representative of the people in our parliament.
But rules are rules. I understand the Greens are not popular in rural electorates, but there should not be one rule for one party and one rule for another, they are all parliamentarians, and therefore they should all abide by the same standards.
If the High Court finds that Barnaby Joyce was not validly elected his seat would be subject to a by-election, he would run again as he has now renounced his New Zealand citizenship and he’d win in a landslide because New England love him, he would be one of the few LNP candidates that will feel secure going into the next election.
So, although an expensive exercise the government’s slim majority would remain under this scenario.
But if ministers Fiona Nash and Matthew Canavan were not validly elected at the last federal election a recount of the votes would be ordered by the court of disputed returns and their seats would more than likely go to the next person on the Coalition ticket.
This outcome would also not disrupt the current status quo, the LNP would still be in Government, and their numbers would remain in the Senate. But this outcome would not be palatable to the Nats because the balance between the National Party and the Liberal Party in the Senate may be upended, as those most likely to replace the two National Party senators would be from the Liberal Party.
Party machinations aside, a more scary scenario has presented itself out of this citizenship fiasco.
There is a very real risk that if the High Court finds Nash, Joyce and Canavan should not have been elected because of their dual citizenship’s, any decisions they have made as ministers could be open to legal challenge, according to Constitutional law experts.
Sydney University Professor of Constitutional Law Anne Twomey said it would be better if decision making was made by acting ministers until their cases are resolved.
“It would be prudent for those ministers who are currently under a cloud concerning their lawful occupation of office to cease to make decisions which are contentious or might give rise to legal challenges with significant consequences,” she said in an article she wrote last week.
It is simple, to avoid this outcome Nash and Joyce should stop playing games and step down. Rules are rules, and no one should be exempt.
Hilltops Council candidate Q&A and debate
The Young Witness will be holding a candidate Questions and Answers (Q&A) forum and debate at the Young Town Hall on Wednesday, August 30 at 6pm.
We will be finding out why the candidates are running and what they stand for. We will ask questions from the public via Facebook and open the floor to questions if there is time.
You are invited to come to the event and sit in the audience, make sure you have a question ready if you would like to ask one, this will be the final chance you will have to meet with candidates in one room before the election on September 9. We will be live streaming the event for those who can’t attend.
Letters policy - council election
The Young Witness letters page is a forum for readers to raise and debate matters of importance to them. It is not a political platform.
Between now and the local government election on Saturday, September 9, we reserve the right not to publish letters from candidates, particularly those that we deem to be pure electioneering.
We encourage other voters to highlight the issues that concern them but ask that letter writers also reveal any party affiliations or links to candidates that might be relevant. We ask this in order to provide the most transparent possible platform for the open and frank debate of important local matters.