Katy Gallagher: ALP in crisis talks over senator’s Ecuadorean citizenship

LABOR senator Katy Gallagher and the ALP are involved in crisis talks with Ecuadorean embassy officials over whether the former ACT chief minister is an Ecuadorean citizen­.

• Experts want Katy Gallagher’s citizenship claim tested
• Senator Gallagher may be Ecuadorean

LABOR senator Katy Gallagher and the ALP were involved in crisis talks with Ecuadorean embassy officials yesterday over whether the former ACT chief minister is an Ecuadorean citizen­.

The frantic discussions came as Labor leader Bill Shorten’s office was caught out claiming that Ms Gallagher was not a dual citizen because the Ecuadorean constitution applied only to those who were born after 2008 and was not retrospective.

Katy Gallagher was in crisis talks with Ecuadorean officials to work out her citizenship status.

However, The Daily Telegraph understands staff at the Ecuadorean embassy told Ms Gallagher’s representatives yesterday her citizenship could be active even if she had not submitted a formal application or “paperwork”.

Ms Gallagher’s representatives were told the embassy was still investigating her situation and had not yet made an official determination.

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Labor did not respond to questions about whether it was pressuring the Ecuadorean embassy to make a decision that would clear Ms Gallagher of holding Ecuadorean citizenship­.

Gabriel Echeverria, a research fellow at Italy’s University of Trento, contradicted the claim by Mr Shorten’s office that the Ecuadorean constitution applied only to those born after 2008, when it was last updated.

“The 2008 Constitution is retrospective,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“The point, though, is that for both Ecuadorean-born and children of Ecuadoreans born abroad the constitution establishes ‘the right for them to be citizens’ which does not mean they are citizens ... (but) they have, if they want, to ask and fulfil the procedures in order to become citizens.”

But holding the rights to a foreign citizenship is a breach of Australia’s constitution, ­according to leading constitutional experts.

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Section 44 decrees a politician can be disqualified if they are “entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power”.

Professor of Public Law at the University of Sydney Professor Mary Crock said even if Ms Gallagher did not actively apply to become an Ecuadorean citizen, the fact she was entitled to would breach Australia’s constitution.

“Section 44 ... covers both people with a present entitlement, who are currently citizens, but also people who could be entitled to citizenship if they applied,” she said.

“The others (MPs) are being referred and ... this has to be referred to the High Court.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and Senator Derryn Hinch have called for Ms Gallagher’s case to be ­referred to the High Court.

Labor declined to respond to questions.

Senator Derryn Hinch has demanded answers — but may find himself in a similar position. Picture: AAP

Ms Gallagher has not ­renounced her rights to Ecuadorean citizenship and before The Daily Telegraph’s revelations on Monday had not sought formal legal advice.

She said the circumstances of her mother’s birth and citizenship were investigated “as part of the ALP vetting process”. “As a result of these ­investigations it was determined that I had not obtained Ecuadorean citizenship by ­descent,” she said.