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ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN POLITICIAN has had to resign from parliament after discovering that she has a dual citizenship.
After an extensive search to determine her citizenship status, Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore found out on Friday that her mother was born with a British citizenship in Singapore in 1967, when the country was still a colony. Because of this, she too was eligible for British citizenship.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball announced a set of measures earlier this month, which has made it compulsory for MPs to formally declare they are not dual citizens and provide evidence to support it.
The proposal, which requires cross-party agreement, comes amid a crisis that has seen several politicians fall foul of a previously obscure constitutional rule which bars dual citizens from sitting in parliament.
The Australian government lost its one-seat majority in October with the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce kicked out of parliament over his dual citizenship.
‘I’m heartbroken’
Kakoschke-Moore, who was born in Darwin in 1970, had not previously been involved in the citizenship fiasco as she had believed her whole life that she was not eligible for British citizenship.
“Usually, where a parent is born outside of the UK, they are unable to pass their citizenship onto their children when those children are also born outside of the UK,” Kakoschke-Moore told reporters.
“It was my understanding for my entire life that I was not eligible for British citizenship due to that rule.”
Her father made inquiries to the British Embassy as to whether she could obtain a British passport when she lived in Oman with her family when she was 12. The family were told that she was no eligible and Kakoschke-Moore said that she had “no reason to doubt that this advice was incorrect”.
“Knowing that all senators would be required to provide information to the parliament about their family history, I approached the UK home office last week to obtain clarification around my citizenship status to better understand why I wasn’t eligible for British citizenship,” Kakoschke-Moore said.
Their advice was extremely surprising to me – that my mother was born in the former colony of Singapore before independence. This gave her citizenship of the United Kingdom and colonies under Section 4 of the Nationality Act 1948.
Because of this, Kakoschke-Moore was, in fact, eligible for dual-citizenship.
She said that she is “heartbroken by this news”.
In breach of the constitution
Earlier this month, Australia’s High Court ruled that five of seven politicians were in breach of the constitution even though they claimed to be unaware they held dual citizenship.
Four were born in Australia, while one moved from Canada when she was a baby.
Deputy Prime Minister Joyce’s disqualification means a by-election for his lower house seat will be contested on 2 December, upending the government’s one-seat parliamentary majority.
The dual citizenship rule was inserted into the 1901 constitution to ensure parliamentarians were loyal solely to Australia.
However, critics say it is out of step with the modern reality of the country, where 50% of the population are either foreign-born or the children of immigrants.
With reporting by AFP.
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What a poxy law. Only the aborigines should be allowed govern then.
This would mean that any grandchild of an Irish person who emigrated to Australia, say 100 years ago, cannot stand for election. They could have been born in Australia, their parents could have been born in Australia and 3 of their grandparents could have been born in Australia but they could not stand for election. That’s a daft rule, especially in a country made up almost entirely of immigrants.
@Alan Rossiter: they can if they don’t have dual nationality
@KingBen: From the article it seems that even being entitled to dual nationality is enough to disqualify you.
That is absolutely daft.
@KingBen: The mentioned Senator doesn’t seem to have a second citizenship, she is just eligible as I understand it.
This is utterly insane.
If Kim Jong Il has any sense, he will pass a law that every Australian who isn’t a member of the Communist Party is eligible for North Korean citizenship, and therefore ineligible for the Australian Parliament.
@Ben McArthur: That an amazing Idea. It would be the most unique Coup in history. Hope it never happens but I applaud your imagination.
@Ben McArthur: Genius!
@Ben McArthur: how do we get a message to North Korea? This needs to happen!
This law seems to be a bit ridiculous and archaic.
Even looking at it from the perspective of a returning immigrant from Australia. If a child born in Australia to Irish parents wants to run for parliament in the future, they are screwed – it’s crazy.
This law needs to be removed.
The important issue in Aus is that this dual citizenship debacle has unearthed the notion that there are 2 types of Aussie citizen; those who can sit in the Commonwealth Parliament and those who cant. This is causing a serious rift in Australia’s up to now cozy Multiculturalism.
Once migrants took Aussie citizenship they believed that they were dinki-di Aussies
like everyone else.
Wrong says the Australian High Court; Section 44-1 of the Constitution says that a person who has allegiance to a Foreign Power cant sit in Parliament and dual citizens
or Aussie Citizens with a right to foreign citizenship are deemed to have allegience to a Forign Power and can’t be Commonwealth Parliamentarians.
This is quite peculiar because:
-State politicians can be dual citizens
-High Court Judges who deliver judgements on the constitution including S44-1 can be dual citizens
-Armed Forces and National Security personnel can be dual citizens
-The Governor General who, according to the Constitution, is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, can be a dual citizen ( in fact up to the mid 1960s, GGs were exclusively UK/British citizens
Add to that, when the Commonwealth Politicians & the GG are sworn-in , they take an oath of allegiance to QE2, her Heirs & Successors who are not Australian Citizens
and a High Court ruling has deemed citizens of the UK to be “Aliens”
Across the Drink in New Zealand, dual citizens of NZ are allowed to sit in the National Parliament.
While the Constitution does not mention citizenship (The Australian Citizenship Act came
into existence in 1948 primarily to cater to the waves of post WW2 migrants and it has been amended twice since), it has much to say about “Aliens”-Wogs in the pre-political correctness era.
The “Alien” provisions in the Constitution are worrying to migrants because thousands of
Aussies with German, Italian or Japanese heritage were interned in prison camps for
the duration of WW2 and were never compensated. This could readily happen again
to Aussie dual citizens or Aussies who have had a parent born in a country which
Australia has declared war on. Let’s hope we never declare war on the UK or our
Parliamentary , GG & Armed Forces loyalty would be up shit-creek and, like Basil Faulty,
don’t mention the bloody Constitution, mate either!
The Hawke/Keating Labour Government refused a private member’s bill to all those
unfairly interned during WW2 and no official attempt at reconciliation has been made since.
As the article above says: almost 50% of Aussies were born overseas or who have a parent who was born overseas but the red necked right wing Nationalists here would likely stymie a referendum to repeal S44-1 and the other nasty “Alien” provisions in the Constitution. Our constitution dictates that there has to be a majority vote in the majority
of States for it to be successful and in the past that has been a stumbling block to get anything up.
Over the past 2 months since this dual citizenship debacle surfaced, many dual citizens
are asking; “is this the end of the Aussie Multicultural dream because trust & loyalty should be a two way deal” and, “is it unfair for the country to ask new Australians at citizenship ceremonies to pledge allegiance to Australia but bar them from Parliament because the country deems them as “Aliens” with allegiance to a Foreign Power.
@Moorooka Mick: It does highlight the stupidity of having a foreign head of state but people who happen to inherit the same citizenship are deemed foreign. I don’t think a referendum to change the constitution would pass. Do you want an MP to be able to live in another country, to avoid the consequences of their actions in Australia?
@Moorooka Mick: Something doesn’t add up. Singapore got independence from the UK in 1963 as part of Malaysia and became a separate country in 1965. However article states mother was born in British colony in 1967,
But they can still join the army and go off and die for Australia, some logic !!
A law like that could work to our advantage with our own politicians
How then can they say they love the English queen the mind boggles
Yet the Australian Head of State is 100% citizen of a foreign country.
The queen of England.
And their flag is 25% another country.
odd
Australia is entering into a dangerous phase,National pride is all,well,and good ,but this exclusion of an elected representative for an oversight,of an unintended dual citizenship,is a manifestation of Australia’s inherent racism.
Proper racist country.Dump.
@Kieran Conroy: Have you been? The constitution was designed to ensure that MPs had loyalty to a single country, only.
Small problem with the dates
“her mother was born with a British citizenship in Singapore in 1967″
“Kakoschke-Moore, who was born in Darwin in 1970″
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/22/skye-kakoschke-moore-nxt-senator-resigns-over-dual-citizenship
“her mother, who was born in Singapore in 1957.”
“Kakoschke-Moore, born in Darwin in 1985″
have your say