Citizenship 8: Parliamentary crisis escalates as Senate President Stephen Parry reveals he is British
SENATE president Stephen Parry has confirmation from the UK government he is a British citizen and says he will leave parliament tomorrow.
NSW
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SENATE president Stephen Parry has confirmation from the UK government he is a British citizen.
In a statement to his Senate colleagues, Senator Parry said he would submit his resignation as both Senate president and a Tasmanian senator to Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove tomorrow.
“With a heavy heart I inform you that I have received advice from the British Home Office that I am a British citizen by virtue of my father’s birthplace, thereby being a dual citizen under the provisions of the Australian Constitution,” he said.
“Because my departure is rapid and an unexpected event, I will not have the usual opportunity to address you in the Senate one last time. I wish to thank all of you as colleagues, many of whom I regard as good friends — from all quarters of the chamber — for your support and confidence in me.”
‘COMPLEX CITIZENSHIP LAWS’
Julie Bishop has been grilled over why it took Senate President Stephen Parry two and a half months to reveal he might be a dual citizen after seven other federal MPs were referred to the High Court.
The Acting Prime Minister has defended the Tasmanian Liberal senator, saying Australia’s citizenship laws were “far more complex” now than they were when the Constitution was established in 1901.
“We would rather not be in this position obviously, but we’re dealing with it,” she told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
The Turnbull Government would carry on with business as usual despite the fresh citizenship woes, Ms Bishop said.
“We retained 75 of the 149 seats in the House of Representatives, we have sufficient crossbench support for confidence and for supply and Barnaby Joyce, we hope, will be returned in the seat of New England after the by-election and so we will be back to the parliamentary composition that we had at the last election,” Ms Bishop said.
Asked repeatedly why Senator Parry waited so long to seek advice on his status, Ms Bishop said: “Stephen Parry understood he was an Australian citizen. The detail of the High Court decision was then made available and he sought advice.”
This comes as Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has called for an audit to deal with the status of all MPs, describing the citizenship debacle as “a circus” that is doing “untold harm”.
Senator Di Natale told ABC’s 7.30 the issue risked tipping Australia into a constitutional crisis and that he suspected more MPs would be involved.
“I have to say I had a suspicion there’d be more and I suspect there’ll be more again,” he told Leigh Sales.
“It is really time now for the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to show some leadership. We need to just end this, we need to end what’s going on here. The way to do it is to have a comprehensive audit of the status of all MPs just to ensure if there is anybody else there who is a dual citizen, we deal with it, and deal with it in one hit. This is distracting the business of government.
The Greens Senator said the issue would lead to a heightened awareness of section 44 of the Constitution.
“I think it is a relic of the past, this section of the constitution,” he told Leigh Sales.
“When you consider that half of Australians are born overseas or have a parent born overseas. More than half Australians would be dual citizens. We should have a referendum, we should change it.”
THE DUAL CITIZENSHIP SAGA
Senate president Stephen Parry informed the government he believes he is a British citizen and could have to resign his position.
Tasmanian senator Parry — the holder of one of the highest parliamentary positions — became the eighth MP caught up in the dual-citizenship scandal, which has already forced Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce to fight a by-election in his seat of New England.
Ironically Mr Joyce told The Daily Telegraph yesterday he believed there were “probably” other dual citizens sitting in Parliament who had not been as upfront as the Nationals were on the issue.
The revelations put the Turnbull government under renewed pressure to order an audit of all MPs and senators amid fears there is likely more MPs who are also dual citizens.
But Attorney-General George Brandis last night said he did not favour “some sort of witch hunt”.
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He also warned not to pre-empt Senator Parry’s citizenship status which is now under review by the British Home Office.
Senator Brandis said he had learnt of the senator’s situation yesterday morning.
“Nobody else has come forward and I’ve not seen any evidence that any other member of Parliament has this problem,” he said.
Senator Parry — who was elevated to his $355,302 a year job in 2014, wrote to Senate colleagues yesterday afternoon to inform them of his situation and his intention to resign as president of the Senate and leave Parliament if the UK confirms he is a British citizen.
He said his father moved to Australia from the UK in 1951 and, following the High Court’s ruling on Friday, he now feared he was a British citizen by descent.
It was also revealed last night Senator Parry pulled out of a parliamentary delegation to India late last month because of any implications following the High Court’s ruling on the other seven parliamentarians.
It has raised speculation over the timeline of when the government learnt of Senator Parry’s circumstances and why it was not declared earlier.
Senator Parry said he was found to hold British citizenship he would “clearly be in breach of Section 44” of the Constitution and would resign as president of the Senate. He would also resign as a Tasmanian senator and “not await the outcome of any referral to the High Court”.