2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis
Starting in July 2017, the eligibility of several members of the Parliament of Australia was questioned. Referred to by some as a "constitutional crisis",[1][2] fifteen sitting politicians were ruled ineligible by the High Court of Australia (sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns) or resigned pre-emptively. The situation arose from section 44(i) of the Australian Constitution, which prohibits parliamentarians from having allegiance to a foreign power, especially citizenship. On that basis, the High Court had previously held that dual citizens are ineligible for election unless they have taken "reasonable steps" to renounce the foreign citizenship before nomination.[3]
Date
7 July 2017 – 28 July 2018
(1 year and 3 weeks)
See Overview
- Eight senators and seven lower house MPs stepped down, either by resignation or High Court ruling.
- Turnbull government briefly lost lower house majority in late 2017.
- Countbacks held to replace senators.
- Three minor parties (One Nation, JLN, NXT) lost one senator each as replacements became independents.
- By-elections held for lower house MPs.
- All members re-contested and returned to their seats, except in Batman.
Six senators and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce MP, known as the "Citizenship Seven", were referred[a] to the High Court between August and September in 2017.[4] In October 2017, the High Court unanimously determined[5] that five were ineligible to be elected as dual citizens at the time of nomination.[6][7] In November 2017, three more senators resigned after recognising their dual citizenship, including Senate President Stephen Parry, as did John Alexander MP. His resignation briefly cost the Coalition government its lower house majority, until Joyce and Alexander regained their seats in by-elections.[8][9]
Following publication of a register of parliamentarians' citizenship status in December 2017,[10] Senator Katy Gallagher and David Feeney MP were referred to the High Court. Feeney resigned in February 2018, before his case was heard.[11] In May 2018, the High Court ruled that Gallagher was also ineligible, thereby clarifying the "reasonable steps" that must be taken when renouncing citizenship to gain exemption from s 44(i). As a result, four more House of Representative members under similar circumstances resigned their seats to re-contest them at by-elections.[12][13]
The eight senators were replaced by High-Court-ordered countbacks, and were all replaced by candidates from the same tickets at the 2016 election.[14] By-elections were held for the seats of the seven affected House of Representative members; six of the seven re-contested and won their seats, while another was won by a member of the same party.
The crisis prompted calls by some people for constitutional reform to prevent dual citizens from being disqualified, which would require a referendum.[15] An opinion poll taken in late November to early December 2017 found overall opposition to changing s 44(i) of 49% to 47% (within the margin of error), with 5% undecided.[16]
Two early twentieth century Australian politicians may not have been Australian citizens or (as then) British subjects: