Everybody’s favourite (and only) breastfeeding politician Larissa Waters has been forced to resign after yet another citizenship issue for the Greens.
Senator Waters was born in Canada to Australian parents who were studying overseas and returned to Australia when she was less than a year old.
The Greens senator still holds dual citizenship, despite not returning to the country since she was 11-months-old.
Laws, that changed a week after Waters was born, mean the senator was Canadian from birth and must have actively renounced her Canadian citizenship.
In Australia, dual citizens are barred from election unless they can prove they took reasonable steps to sever foreign ties.
The resignation comes just days after fellow Greens Senator Scott Ludlum was also forced to resign on discovery he too held dual citizenship.
Waters, like Ludlum, said it was with “shock and sadness” that she learned she was a dual citizen.
“I had not renounced since I was unaware that I was a dual citizen. Obviously this is something that I should have sought advice on when I first nominated for the Senate in 2007, and I take full responsibility for this grave mistake and oversight,” she said.
“I am deeply sorry for the impact that it will have.”
Waters explained her parents had told her she could pursue Canadian citizenship but when she hadn’t by the time she was 21, she didn’t bother and assumed she only held Australian citizenship.
She went on to apologise to those who voted for her, as well as hinting this won’t be the last we’ll see of her.
“The challenges we face as a nation are still so great, and I will not be stepping away from them,” she said.
“I have spent my working life protecting the environment and helping the community have better say in decision making, and that will not cease.
“We must stop the Adani mega mine, and we must support women to be free from violence, sexism, and pay discrimination.
WATCH: Senator Waters makes history as first woman to breastfeed in parliament.
“While my future remains uncertain, I have more to contribute and will be talking with my party about what lies ahead.
“Whatever the outcome, I will always work for gender equality and to protect the environment.”
The shock resignation now means the Greens will be two votes down in Senate until their replacements can be instated – potentially making it easier for the government to pass legislation in their absence.
WATCH: Larissa Waters campaigned hard against the “sexist and opportunistic and … shameful” tampon tax while in government.
