Citizenship saga: Pressure mounts on Malcolm Turnbull to refer eight MPs to High Court
FORMER prime minister John Howard has taken aim at dual citizen MPs who won’t come forward, including any in the Liberal party ranks.
JOHN Howard has slammed any dual citizens still in Parliament who won’t come forward, including any among the government’s ranks.
The former Prime Minister urged anyone with questions over their eligibility to resign or ask to be referred to the High Court, insisting the public will reward their “authenticity”.
It comes as Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten remain locked in a standoff over which MPs with questions over their citizenship should be referred to the High Court.
Labor wants eight MPs, including four of its own, four government MPs and crossbench MP Rebekha Sharkie to be referred.
The Government insists none of its members have a problem.
In a subtle rebuke to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard said “I read opinion polls, it’s a tough time” as he urged MPs to come forward to end the ongoing saga today.
“People want authenticity in politics,” he said at a press conference with Liberal MP John Alexander in Bennelong.
Mr Alexander resigned when questions were raised over whether he held British citizenship by descent through his father.
He will face a by-election on December 16.
“There was a doubt about John — it is unbelieveable when you think that his father emigrated to Australia before WWI, and he represented Australia in the Davis Cup and if ever there was a dinky-di Aussie it’s John Alexander — and yet there’s a doubt and it’s the law, everybody’s governed by the law. it doesn’t matter who you are, but he’s recognised that and he’s put himself on the line,” Mr Howard said.
“He hasn’t been pushed to it, he hasn’t been dragged kicking and screaming to it and I admire him for that and a lot of people in Bennelong will admire him for that ... including Labor voters.
“Other people are hiding behind declarations of ‘oh, we’ve got a better authorisation process than the other side’ — that in the end will end in tears for people who make those claims.
“A man or a woman who’s been in John’s position, who says ‘Ok there’s a doubt, I accept that, I’ll resign, I’ll put myself in the hands of the public’, I hope and I believe that people will reward that authenticity - but it’s not easy.”
Mr Howard’s comments came as Ms Sharkie called out the Prime Minister, saying if the government has nothing to hide then it should agree to refer all MPs under a cloud.
“We could have ended this standoff yesterday,” Ms Sharkie told News Corp today.
“If the government has nothing to hide, if the government has nothing to fear, why not put this to bed yesterday,” she said.
“We need to show to the Australian community that we’re united on this and we want to fix this.”
The Nick Xenophon Team MP’s comments come as Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce — freshly returned after being ousted over his own citizenship issues — called on both government and Labor MPs whose eligibility is under a cloud to refer themselves.
“Any person who believes they shouldn’t be there should put themselves forward,” Mr Joyce told the Nine Network today.
The citizenship saga will spill into next year unless Mr Turnbull and Opposition leader Bill Shorten can agree on which MPs to send to the High Court.
A standoff between the two is underway after the government refused yesterday to refer four of its own MPs, as well as Ms Sharkie and four Labor MPs.
The government argues its MPs — Nola Marino, Julia Banks, Jason Falinski and Alex Hawke — do not have any citizenship issues to answer, but wants to send Labor MPs Josh Wilson, Susan Lamb and Justine Keay to the High Court along with Ms Sharkie.
Labor senator Katy Gallagher and Labor MP David Feeney were both referred separately yesterday.
The government does not have the numbers to refer the Labor MPs without crossbench support.
It will wait until next year now — when Liberal MP John Alexander is expected to return and boosts the government’s numbers back to a one-seat majority — to refer any others.
Senior government Minister Christopher Pyne said Ms Gallagher’s case would be a test case for the other Labor MPs and Ms Sharkie, as their issues all arise from British authorities not processing their renunciation documents before nominations closed for last year’s election.
Today, Ms Sharkie indicated that she and other crossbenchers would not be supporting a government bid to refer only Labor MPs and herself.
“I think us as five crossbenchers have said very clearly that this needs to be a bipartisan approach,” she said.