Daily Telegraph Editorial: Now Liberal MP Jason Falinski is in the frame

AFTER a week in which the rolling citizenship crisis threatened to finally wash over any number of Labor members comes word that once again the Liberals are in the frame with Liberal MP Jason Falinski now facing his own issues.

WILL the last parliamentarian to be referred to the High Court please turn out the lights?

After a week in which the rolling citizenship crisis threatened to finally wash over any number of Labor members comes word that once again the Liberals are in the frame.

As The Daily Telegraph reports today, Liberal MP Jason Falinski is now facing his own issues as documents obtained through the National Archives appear to conflict with information previously provided by the Mackellar representative’s attorneys.

Liberal Member for Mackellar Jason Falinski in the House of Representatives. Picture: AAP

The technical details involve whether Falinski may have obtained Polish citizenship via his father, specifically because of claims his father was born out of wedlock — something which might have affected his eligibility for citizenship, meaning it would not have passed down from Falinski’s paternal grandfather.

It’s all very complicated, and once again brings up the issue of eligibility in our own Parliament being determined by the sometimes arcane and esoteric rules and regulations set up by governments in eras long past and far away.

However, documents from the National Archives show that both of Falinski’s grandparents said that they were married in Russia in 1942 — one year before Falinski’s father Stanley was born. At this stage it is hard to know where all this will end.

Falinski’s issues come as Labor and the Coalition engage in a tit-for-tat war of attrition against one another.

Jason Falinski in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber. Picture: Kym Smith

The document that has come to light. Picture: National Archive

Labor, which seemed to have the whip hand for weeks with leader Bill Shorten holding firm to the line that the ALP’s vetting procedures were far superior to those of any other party and had no case to answer, has lately seen itself badly embarrassed on this front. Two Labor MPs, Katy Gallagher and David Feeney, were referred to the High Court last week and at least three others are suspected of possibly having been British nationals at the last election.

Meanwhile on the Coalition side of the equation, Barnaby Joyce has already returned to Parliament and all eyes will be on the Bennelong by-election this Saturday, which will determine whether John Alexander returns to Canberra or if the Coalition’s grasp on government is further weakened.

Either way, if the current slow drip of revelations is any indication, it’s likely we still haven’t seen the end of this issue.

Gun mystery must be solved

As we approach the third anniversary of the Lindt cafe siege, law enforcement are still unravelling the mysteries of just how Man Monis came to take 18 people hostage that fateful morning. Now comes word that Monis may well have obtained the shotgun he used to execute cafe manager Tori Johnson from a prominent Middle Eastern crime family.

While the investigation may be difficult, police should leave no stone unturned to figure out just how Monis got the gun — not only as a matter of justice for the dead, but to further break the links between crims and would-be terrorists.

Bureaucrats go to pot

When NSW made its first tentative steps to legalise the medical use of cannabis more than a year ago, many terminally ill patients and their doctors and families cheered what they imagined would be the arrival of a new weapon in their arsenal to fight pain and improve quality of life. But as the Daily Telegraph reports today, many are still waiting for access because NSW Health bureaucrats are holding up applications to use the stuff because of what some call “an automatic bias” against cannabis — meaning they cannot get approval to use it even if they’ve been given the tick by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Kathy McLean, 69, with her 10-year-old granddaughter Brooke, has been given two approvals by the federal government for medical cannabis for her Parkinson's disease and Alzheimers, but is being blocked by NSW Health. Picture: Brad Newman

While health officials are right to be cautious to ensure cannabis prescriptions are not over-used or abused (marijuana is still illegal, and it is not necessarily the harmless plant its advocates often claim) when potent drugs like morphine can be dispensed with relative ease it seems churlish to deny the truly sick an alternate medicine. Particularly when cannabis is not difficult to obtain on the black market, it would seem wise for officials to try and bring as much of its use as possible back under the umbrella of safe, supervised use.