South Australian senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore quits parliament over British dual citizenship

SKYE Kakoschke-Moore has resigned from the Senate after discovering she is a Brit, becoming the third Nick Xenophon Team politician caught up in the citizenship crisis.

• Analysis: Citizenship saga not over as Skye falls

SKYE Kakoschke-Moore has resigned from the Senate after discovering she is a Brit, becoming the third Nick Xenophon Team politician caught up in the citizenship crisis.

Her mother was born to British parents in Singapore in 1957 before she moved to Australia in 1970 — which made Ms Kakoschke-Moore eligible for a British citizenship because Singapore at the time was a British colony.

She will quit the Australian Senate immediately, and will be referred to the High Court.

In a bizarre twist the next in line for the $200,000-a-year Senate seat, Tim Storer, split from the Nick Xenophon Team earlier this month following an internal party spat.

A “heartbroken” Ms Kakoschke-Moore ruled out running for State Parliament at next year’s election.

Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore has quit parliament after it was revealed she is a dual citizen of Great Britain. Other parliamentarians to have resigned over dual citizenship at Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash, Larissa Waters, Scott Ludlam, Stephen Parry, Malcolm Roberts and John Alexander.

Mr Xenophon, who quit federal politics to contest the state seat of Hartley in March, yesterday conceded Mayo NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie would likely have her case referred to the High Court too.

But he defended his party’s credibility ahead of the March State Election as criticism mounts over candidate vetting and his ability to hold the NXT together.

“Ultimately, it’s for voters to judge how we go,” said Mr Xenophon, who was himself cleared by the High Court despite holding British Overseas citizenship.

“This was unforeseen, and I think the fact that you’ve had ... two Cabinet Ministers and a Deputy Prime Minister caught up in this indicates how wide section 44.1 (of the Constitution) has been interpreted.”

Following Ms Kakoschke-Moore’s resignation from the Senate — which made her the ninth scalp in the ongoing saga — the High Court must rule on how to fill the vacant seat.

In other citizenship cases, the court has ordered a countback, which has generally resulted in the next candidate on the affected political party’s ticket taking the seat.

If that were to occur in this case, Adelaide businessman Mr Storer would have the spot.

But he caused a storm when he made a shock grab for Mr Xenophon’s Senate seat after the party leader resigned to run for the state seat of Hartley next year.

The party had picked NXT staffer and former submariner Rex Patrick to fill the spot but Mr Storer sought legal advice in a bid for it.

Skye Kakoschke-Moore and Nick Xenophon at her emotional resignation announcement. Picture: Simon Cross

After about a week, the dispute was settled “amicably” and Mr Storer left the party.

Mr Xenophon said the party was hoping to convince the High Court that given Mr Storer was no longer a member, the seat should instead go to someone of NXT’s choosing.

“That’s one of the arguments but it’s still early days, other than to say the initial legal advice from the same legal team that represented me in the High Court successfully is that there are some important legal principles that have not yet been tested,” Mr Xenophon said.

“Tim Storer is a good bloke. I’ve known him for ... a number of years. He is a very good person but there are issues here about him not being a member of the party.”

Mr Storer declined to comment on Wednesday.

Former NXT Senate candidate Tim Storer.

Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said that based on past cases, she believed it would be hard to convince the High Court that the seat should not go to Mr Storer.

Ms Kakoschke-Moore said the Senate was still “where my ambitions lie”.

“I’m not driven by politics. I’m driven by people and I will not risk losing my humanity by forgetting that,” she said.

Ms Kakoschke-Moore, who was born in Darwin, said she made inquires with the UK Home Office as part of the citizenship declaration process senators were expected to undertake next week.

“As a 12-year-old, while I was living in Oman, my father made inquiries with the British Embassy there to determine whether I was eligible for a British passport,” she said. “We were advised that I was not eligible for a passport because I was not eligible for British citizenship.

“When it became apparent that all senators would be required to provide verification around their citizenship status, I thought it was in my best interest to approach the UK Home Office in order to confirm the advice.”

It follows revelations on advertiser.com.au that Ms Sharkie was facing questions about the timing of her renunciation.

She sent off her papers before putting her hand up for Parliament but the response was not confirmed until after nominations closed.

“Based on the advice I have obtained ... Rebekha Sharkie is in a very strong position. The worst case scenario is a by-election,” Mr Xenophon said.

“My time as a senator has been the most fulfilling of my life. I am proud to say that when I reflect on my first speech, many of the goals I set for myself and those which I couldn’t imagine at the time have already been achieved,’’ Ms Kakoschke-Moore said.

She said she had believed she was ineligible to be a British citizen.

As a child, her family had been advised by a British embassy in Oman that she was not eligible for a British passport.

However, she approached the British Home Office last week for information as part of the new requirement for senators to table information about their citizenship status.

The Home Office advised her on November 17 that she was British and a barrister provided confirmation on Tuesday night.

NXT and SA Best leader Nick Xenophon said he hoped that Ms Kakoschke-Moore would run for the Senate again at the next federal election.

“I’m devastated by the news, all my colleagues are devastated by the news,’’ Mr Xenophon said.

“Skye Kakoschke-Moore has done outstanding work and this is not the end of her political career, I think it’s the end of a chapter of her political career.”

Earlier this month The Advertiser revealed Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie’s UK citizenship was not formally renounced until after nominations for the 2016 election — putting her eligibility for parliament under a cloud.

Former senator Mr Xenophon was referred to the High Court because he held a UK overseas citizenship but was ruled to be eligible.

Ms Kakoschke-Moore said she was proud to have fought for a permanent compensation scheme for defence abuse victims and for “Carly’s law” to protect young people from online predators.

Ms Kakoschke-Moore was born in Darwin in 1985 before moving to Oman with her family when she was nine where she lived for 10 years.

She moved to Adelaide in 2005 to study at Flinders University.

Originally published as South Australian senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore quits parliament over British dual citizenship