‘I suspect immaculate conception’: Senators’ strange citizenship statements
FROM saying their grandmother was born at an ancient wonder to assuring the public they’re not pedophiles, these are some of politicians’ strange statements on the citizenship chaos.
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PAULINE Hanson said her grandmother was born at the prehistoric Stonehenge site while David Leyonhjelm suggested he had an “immaculate conception” in some of the flippant citizenship statements made by Australian politicians.
As the embarrassing saga continues to expose more of the country’s leaders as dual citizens, MPs must this week disclose their family history. This could lead to more referrals to the High Court and chaos for Malcolm Turnbull’s troubled Government, with a series of by-elections potentially taking place early next year.
Senators have already filed their forms, and some of their answers are extremely strange.
One Nation leader Ms Hanson states that her paternal grandmother was born in “Stonehenge, UK” in 1886 — but the famous monument is not the name of any town, or home to residents. She lists both her paternal grandparents as born in the UK, with her parents both born in Brisbane.
She has previously denied she is a dual citizen but said she had not checked with Britain’s Home Office.
Liberal Democrat Mr Leyonhjelm wrote on his form, in a section asking if there were any other relevant factors (e.g. adoption, IVF or citizenship through marriage): “I once asked my mother if my father was truly my father, but she was offended so I didn’t ask again. I suspect immaculate conception.”
In answer to the question on what steps he has taken to assure himself he has not inherited citizenship from another country, he wrote: “Nothing. I’ve also done nothing to assure myself I’m not a member of the Communist Party or a pedophile, inherited from my parents or grandparents.”
ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher revealed she was a British citizen on the date she nominated for election to the Senate, and UK authorities did not confirm her renunciation until two months after nominations closed on 9 June.
But said she had taken all necessary steps to renounce her dual citizenship by sending off a form to the UK Home Office on 20 April 2016.
She said Adrian Berry, a leading expert on British Nationality law, had confirmed this and she is no longer a dual citizen. She wrote on Facebook that she did not believe that she should refer herself to the High Court but “that will be a matter fir the Senate to determine.”
Labor senator Doug Cameron revealed he was potenitally eligible for Lithuanian citizenship. He was born in Scotland and renounced his British citizenship before nominating for Parliament, but his maternal grandparents were Lithuanian.
They left Lithuania before his mother was born in 1915, but the law was changed last year to allow dual citizenship for descendants of Lithuanian citizens who left the nation before 1940.
Mr Cameron said the act requires an application to acquire citizenship, which he had never made.
Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos and One Nation’s Peter Georgiou both have parents born in Greece, which could mean they have Greek citizenship by descent.
The Senate motion requires documentary evidence only of those who have held citizenship of a foreign country. For completeness, I attach a letter from the Greek Government so as to confirm my status. pic.twitter.com/vlDYZTXibo
— Arthur Sinodinos AO (@A_Sinodinos) December 4, 2017
Mr Sindinos said he was not and ever had been “entitled to the rights and privileges of a Greek citizen.” He wrote that he had engaged lawyers ABL who confirmed with the Greek government he was not a citizen and had never been one — and tweeted a document as evidence.
Mr Georgiou provided a document from the Greek Embassy showing he cannot be considered a Greek citizen.
It comes after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was forced to contest a by-election last Saturday, which he won in a convincing landslide, after the High Court found him to be a dual New Zealand-Australian citizen.
Former tennis star John Alexander also has to recontest his seat in Bennelong on December 16 after he resigned from Parliament saying he was most likely a dual British citizen.
The loss of the two MPs from the House of Representatives pending the by-election outcomes has cost the Government its majority, although Mr Turnbull said he could continue with the support of independents.
Greens Senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters have already resigned after it was confirmed they held New Zealand and Canadian citizenship respectively.
Nick Xenophon Team senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore resigned after she discovered she had British citizenship through her mother. And Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie stepped down after her father’s Scottish heritage by her a British citizen by descent.
We know there are also questions over the citizenship of Labor MPs Justine Keay and Susan Lamb and the Nick Xenophon Team’s Rebekha Sharkie.
Originally published as ‘I suspect immaculate conception’: Senators’ strange citizenship statements