Liberal MP Jason Falinski in citizenship woes on Warsaw connection
MALCOLM Turnbull has hit back at suggestions he is losing control of his leadership in a heated interview with Karl Stefanovic after another MP was pulled into the growing citizenship crisis.
NSW
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PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hit back at suggestions he is losing control of his leadership amid the citizenship crisis engulfing federal parliament.
In a somewhat heated early morning interview with Karl Stefanovic on Channel 9’s Today, Mr Turnbull was pressed about being distracted by the intricate details of the citizenship scandal instead of being focused on running the country.
Stefanovic said the perception was that Mr Turnbull was meant to be running the country but was distracted by the citizenship crisis and unable to run his own party.
But Mr Turnbull hit back, branding the suggestion as “nonsense” and accusing the TV host of being patronising.
“I’m not distracted,” Mr Turnbull said.
“I’m resolving the problems, resolving the problems and delivering.”
Mr Turnbull earlier this morning said that Bill Shorten is not being fair dinkum when it comes to resolving the citizenship debacle.
A meeting between Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten on Wednesday failed to find a solution to the problem, with both parties stressing the need to prevent the issue spilling into the new year.
“[Shorten] wants to exploit this issue, he wants to prolong that, he does not want to resolve it,” Mr Turnbull told Seven Sunrise on this morning.
“He had no changes to propose, no wording. We spoke for two hours and he could not clarify or articulate the changes that he wanted.”
Mr Shorten said Australia cannot continue into the new year without resolving the dual-citizenship crisis afflicting parliament, “I have told Malcolm that this crisis has been going on for months so I don’t know why he needs more and more days to resolve it,” Mr Shorten told Seven’s Sunrise on this morning.
“We have demanded a solution and we made constructive progress.” Labor disagrees with the government over how strong a dual-citizenship test for politicians should be.
“There is no point in us coming up with a solution in parliament which then doesn’t pass in the courts. That is causing chaos,” Mr Shorten told Today this morning.
It comes as Liberal Jason Falinski is facing questions about dual Polish citizenship.
Mr Falinski could be a Polish citizen by descent, with immigration documents from June and July 1958 showing his father and grandfather had Polish citizenship when they arrived in Australia.
The MP for the blue ribbon north shore seat of Mackellar — previously held by Bronwyn Bishop — vehemently denies any suggestion of his dual citizenship.
Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie, meanwhile, has also been dragged into the fiasco with revelations her father was born in Scotland.
Senator Lambie yesterday told media she has “no concerns” about her citizenship and claims to only have found out about her heritage in “recent weeks”.
“I am proud of my Scottish ancestry and my father is too,” Senator Lambie said.
“I’m happy to put on record that i’m satisfied that my parents are both Australian citizens and I have no concerns about me being a dual citizen because of where there were born or came from.”
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal Labor MP Emma Husar wrote to the Polish Consulate in Sydney on May 24 last year to renounce her citizenship because Labor could not be certain the complicated Polish laws meant she was a dual citizen or not going into the 2016 federal election.
► Questions raised over Jacqui Lambie’s citizenship
The dual citizenship drama rocking parliament is set to drag on after Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten were unable to strike a deal on the crisis in a two-hour meeting in Melbourne yesterday.
Labor is calling for a five-day disclosure period once Parliament resumes on November 27, while Mr Turnbull appeared to be open to shortening the 21-day period he had proposed to solve the citizenship impasse.
The renunciation process for Polish citizenship is difficult
“We are certainly agreed on the need for disclosure and of the kind that I’ve set out in the resolution and we also agreed that the matter must be dealt with before the end of the year,” Mr Turnbull said.
“If people are going to be referred to the High Court, then you want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible, because the sooner the referrals are made, the sooner the High Court can schedule the hearing.”
Mr Shorten said a second issue for debate was the level of disclosure, with Labor pushing for MPs and senators to show what steps they have taken to find out “that the law overseas in that country doesn’t confer citizenship” upon them.
Polish citizenship law is notoriously complicated, but incoming passenger cards show Mr Falinski’s father Stanislaw and grandfather Leon both listed as Polish citizens.
They appeared on the electoral roll as Australian citizens between 1966 and 1968.
While prospective Polish citizens are required to fill out a confirmation form to acquire a passport, the Polish Consul in Sydney said not having done so “doesn’t mean they are not a Polish citizen”.
Labor is facing questions over the eligibility of at least two MPs
“If they want to get to know if they are or not they need to make an application to find out for sure,” Zbigniew Augustyn said.
Another Polish citizenship consultant, Jolanta Wolski, told The Daily Telegraph: “If the person’s ancestors (father and/or grandfather) had not formally renounced their Polish citizenship, then this person would be Polish by descent.
“However, if the person wanted to apply for a Polish passport, he/she would still have to apply for Confirmation of Polish Citizenship.”
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The renunciation process for Polish citizenship is difficult, while the issue is also complicated by the forced removal of citizenships launched by the country’s communist dictatorship in the late 1960s.
Mr Falinski said his father “was never Polish and was born in the former USSR”.
Other Liberal sources have pointed out disembarkation cards are often incomplete or mistakenly filled out by border officers, as in the case of Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s mother, who is listed as both Hungarian and stateless.
Ms Husar, the member for the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay, did not respond to requests for comment, but on Wednesday said she had “never held citizenship of any other country”.
Ms Lamb claims to have renounced her British citizenship in May 2016.
Labor is facing questions over the eligibility of at least two MPs: Tasmanian Justine Keay and Queenslander Susan Lamb.
Ms Keay has acknowledged she received confirmation of her renunciation of British citizenship one week after the 2016 July election.
Ms Lamb claims to have renounced her British citizenship in May 2016, but has refused to say whether it was processed before the election.
Former senate president Stephen Parry has already resigned after admitting he was a British citizen, while Liberal MP John Alexander is refusing to say whether he is a dual British citizen until the disclosure process begins in December.
Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s potential Greek citizenship has also been in the spotlight, as has that of Liberal MP Julia Banks.
Both deny they are dual citizens, as do more than 20 other MPs and senators who were born overseas or have parents who have been overseas citizens.
with AAP
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