Senator Derryn Hinch may be booted from Parliament over US links
EXCLUSIVE: DERRYN Hinch faces a High Court fight to save his political career after the self-styled “human headline” admitted links to the US that could disqualify him from the Senate.
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DERRYN Hinch faces a High Court fight to save his political career after the self-styled “human headline” admitted links to the United States that could disqualify him from the Senate.
Senator Hinch on Wednesday night acknowledged he had become the latest member of federal parliament caught up in the citizenship scandal that has rocked Canberra.
The Victorian senator has renounced New Zealand citizenship.
But he still holds a social security card from when he lived in New York — which makes him eligible to receive benefits from the US.
“I plan to raise the issue with the Solicitor-General and, if necessary, will refer myself to the High Court acting as the Court of Disputed Returns,” he told the Herald Sun.
Section 44(i) of the Constitution disqualifies those “entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power” from being a member of parliament.
Leading constitutional law expert Professor Anne Twomey said any MP holding a US social security card might be in breach of that section.
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Senator Hinch said his view was that he had not accepted the “rights and privileges of a foreign power”.
“I paid a special social security tax for 10 years, on top of regular income tax, which makes me entitled to a pension. That’s not a privilege; it’s payment for that tax I paid in the 1960s and 1970s. I did write to the US Social Security Department instructing them not to pay that pension because I was now a senator,” he said.
But Senator Hinch admitted he had not given up his social security number, saying: “I do have a Social Security number, because I worked for the Sydney Morning Herald Ltd in New York and automatically acquired one. It stays with you, citizen or not, until you die.
“I still fervently believe the Senate next week should again vote on referring each and every MP to an independent auditor, preferably through the legal and constitutional affairs committee,” he said.
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Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and six other MPs are being referred to the High Court amid concerns they could be in breach of Section 44(i) as dual citizens.
Prof Twomey said on Wednesday the greyest area of S44(i) related to MPs who might be entitled to benefits from another country.
“So far, the High Court has not had to face it,” she said.
“If a person takes action to obtain a green card or a US social security number, then it is arguable that he or she has become entitled to the rights or privileges of a foreign power.
“The question would be how far the High Court would go on this, whether something less than citizenship — such as the right to live in a country, the right to work there and the right to receive social security entitlements — is enough to trigger a disqualification.
“We simply do not know.”
Constitutional expert Professor George Williams told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday he expected all seven MPs whose fate the High Court is due to decide to lose their seats because they held dual citizenship.
Originally published as Senator Derryn Hinch may be booted from Parliament over US links
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