Malcolm Turnbull ripped off citizenship Band-Aid painfully

THE PM has decided not to rip the citizenship Band-Aid off in one sharp yank. Instead, he has decided to pull it off slowly and painfully, writes James Morrow.

Malcolm Turnbull has decided not to rip the citizenship Band-Aid that has been worrying his government — and the Australian people — for weeks off in one sharp yank.

Instead, he has decided to continue to pull it off, slowly and painfully, with at least three more weeks of declarations and counterclaims to come, followed by more inevitable trips to the High Court.

The Prime Minister had an opportunity to call a full audit of every sitting member of Parliament’s citizenship.

Instead, he squibbed it.

Malcolm Turnbull decided not to rip off the Band Aid quickly. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Speaking to the press this afternoon, he called for a resolution asking that all members of Parliament, and members of all subsequent parliaments, declare whether they are or have ever been citizens of another country to the best of their knowledge, the places and dates of birth of their parents, and details of any renunciations as necessary.

As Turnbull himself said, “This is not an audit. The obligation is on each member and each senator to make a full disclosure as I have repeatedly said in recent times.”

Well, that’s right.

Instead of a comprehensive review of the citizenship status of all sitting MPs and Senators, it’s the audit you have when you’re not having an audit.

Or, to carry the analogy further, it’s like self-certifying to the ATO that you’ve done the right thing rather than let them run over your bank statements with a fine-tooth comb.

The fact that the system he proposes will be run by the same office that deals with politicians’ declarations of financial interests will only increase voter cynicism.

► Turnbull dismisses audit as ‘sort of lynch-mob’

► Audit of MPs will cause its own set of problems

►Kennett accuses Turnbull of being ‘bereft of leadship’

► Pollies should show us their passports

► Time to fix this debacle once and for all

Having comprehensively lost control of the issue, Turnbull has finally realised that the only thing he can do to avoid a crash is to steer into the skid. But it may well be too little, too late.

With Labor pressing hard over Coalition junior minister Alex Hawke and Victorian backbencher Julia Banks — both with Greek heritage that could make them Greek citizens — he had no other choice to make at least some move to satisfy the public and return fire.

He has almost surely made the calculation that, despite Bill Shorten’s repeated protestations about Labor’s watertight vetting methods, there are Labor parliamentarians ripe to be picked off under the High Court’s black letter interpretation of the Constitution’s Section 44.

Barnaby Joyce in Tamworth during the campaign in his electorate, New England. Picture: Dylan Robinson

And this is where it gets interesting.

Shorten’s line on his own party room’s citizenship issues — “trust me” — has served him well for the past several weeks. Reminiscent of Napoleon’s advice to never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of making a mistake, Labor has had to do nothing but hold the line.

Stephen Parry quit as Senate president last week. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

But all that might change with any number of Opposition members, from Penny Wong (Malaysian heritage) and Tanya Plibersek (Slovenian parents) to Susan Lamb (with a British father) and Maria Vamvakinou in the frame to have their family history and documentation put under the microscope.

The gamble for Turnbull is that he can pick a few Labor MPs off and even the score and in the process take some of the heat out of the issue — or at least make sure it is a bit more evenly distributed around the Parliamentary chamber.

Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull ripped off citizenship Band-Aid painfully