It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks for Australian Parliament. The ‘Immigrant Nation’ moniker held true as we lost MPs left, right and centre when they discovered their unintentional dual citizenship.
Second to go was Greens Deputy Leader and accidental Canadian Larissa Waters, but the breastfeeding superstar has announced she has “unfinished business that she wants to continue” and will recontest her seat.
“After a rollercoaster of a month, I can confirm that I have renounced my Canadian citizenship,” the Queenslander said in a statement.
“After a couple of weeks of personal reflection, I have decided that I will put my hand up to recontest the seat, whenever the membership decides that process should commence,” she said.
And while this means she’s had to turn her back on a lifetime supply of free poutine (pretty sure that’s how things work in Canada), the Senator will likely be chosen by her party to return to Parliament when pre-selections open, which seems like a good trade.
WATCH: Larissa Waters breastfeeds in Federal Parliament.
Her former co-Deputy Leader Scott Ludlam has said he won’t be seeking to run again “in the foreseeable future”, meaning the High Court will oversee a recount today that will almost certainly place Jordon Steele-John as his replacement.
Former cabinet minister Matt Canavan has stuck to his story that his mother nominated him for Italian citizenship without his knowledge, so his case will also be assessed by the High Court today to decide if he was ineligible to stand.
Canavan quit his cabinet job while his fate is decided but didn’t resign from Senate, arguing he could not renounce the citizenship because he had not known she had done it.
Multiple officials have since confirmed that to be eligible for Italian citizenship over the age of 18, applicants must personally sign declarations – it cannot be granted on behalf of someone else.
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts will also face questions over his eligibility today after a murky and confusing couple of weeks regarding his changing statements on British citizenship.
After claiming he had never held any other citizenship, Buzzfeed News found Roberts had travelled twice on a British passport.
In addressing the contradiction, the senator took an interesting stance.
“He is choosing to believe that he was never British,” Roberts’ chief of staff Sean Black said. “He is preferring to believe that he was never British because he has no allegiance or exercised any citizenship arrangement.
“However they have renounced and released him of anything to do with them.”
To recap: Australian politics, what a mess.
