Former Senator Skye Kakoschke — Moore has launched an unusual legal bid to replace herself in Parliament
SHE quit, but former Nick Xenophon Team senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore has asked the High Court to allow her to replace the vacant South Australian Senate seat — with herself.
SA News
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FORMER Nick Xenophon Team senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore has launched an unusual court bid to effectively replace herself in Federal Parliament.
Ms Kakoschke-Moore quit last month after discovering she had acquired British citizenship from her Singapore-born mother — which made her eligible for a British citizenship because Singapore at the time was a British colony.
She was referred to the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns.
The court is expected to order a special count of ballot papers from the 2016 election to determine which candidate should fill the South Australian Senate vacancy.
At a directions hearing before Justice Geoffrey Nettle, Ms Kakoschke-Moore’s legal team argued that the former senator should be included in the recount because she has renounced her former British citizenship.
If Ms Kakoschke-Moore is excluded from the recount, the seat is likely to go to former NXT candidate Tim Storer, who has left the party.
David Jackson, QC, for Ms Kakoschke-Moore, said his client was now eligible to be a Senate candidate.
“She’s in a position where she’s no longer disqualified,’’ Mr Jackson said.
Mr Storer was not represented in court but was recognised as a party to the case.
In the cases for former Tasmanian senators Jacqui Lambie and Stephen Parry, Justice Nettle ordered special counts to determine their replacements.
Ms Lambie’s likely replacement, Steve Martin, is facing a challenge to his eligibility to sit in the Senate because he is the mayor of Devonport.
The court is yet to determine whether local mayors hold “offices of profit under the crown” and are therefore ineligible to stand for Parliament.
Ms Lambie and Mr Parry — the former Senate president — quit after discovering they were British dual-citizens.
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