Peter Jean analysis: Citizenship saga not over as Skye falls

THE Nick Xenophon Team are a bunch of amateurs ... but then, so are the Liberal, National, Green, Lambie and (probably) Labor parties, which are all facing citizenship problems of their own.

• SA Skye Kakoschke-Moore quits Senate over citizenship

THE Nick Xenophon Team are a bunch of amateurs. But then, so are the Liberal, National, Green, Lambie and (probably) Labor parties, which are all facing citizenship problems of their own.

By Christmas, three of the four Nick Xenophon Team members elected to the federal Parliament last year could be gone.

That’s a big shake-up for a little party that has grand ambitions to grow its presence on the national political stage.

Nick Xenophon has already left the Senate and been replaced by former staffer Rex Patrick. Skye Kakoschke-Moore fell on her sword yesterday after belatedly discovering she is British.

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie is at risk of being shown the door by the High Court because her British citizenship wasn’t formally extinguished until after nominations closed for the 2016 election.

If Ms Sharkie goes, Senator Stirling Griff will be the only NXT member of the class of 2016 left in Canberra.

To complicate things even more, disgruntled former NXT candidate Tim Storer is likely to win a Senate seat if the High Court orders a recount of ballot papers to choose Ms Kakoschke-Moore’s replacement.

Mr Storer left the NXT after the party’s decision to install Mr Patrick in Mr Xenophon’s Senate seat and could choose to sit as an independent.

The federal NXT will soon adopt its state organisation’s name Nick Xenophon’s SA Best.

It will also have to have to move fast to make a fresh start.

Constitutional law expert Professor Anne Twomey, of the University of Sydney, yesterday joked that the citizenship crisis was preventing her from marking exam papers as she was inundated with phone calls each time another MP or senator’s status is questioned.

The crisis is showing no signs of abating. In fact, it will probably get worse once MPs and senators begin filing information required for new public registers of parliamentarians’ citizenship details.

Brace yourselves, it’s not over yet.