WA voters have a right to demand Scott Ludlam pay back his salary

SCOTT Ludlam’s claims he didn’t check to see if he still had dual citizenship don’t pass the sniff test, writes Caroline Marcus.

Scott Ludlum, deputy leader of the Greens party, with Adam Bandt, announces he is ending his nine-year parliamentary career because of a dual citizenship snafu. (Pic: AP) Brandis unsympathetic towards Scott Ludlam

IT’S difficult to see how Scott Ludlam’s excuse of not being aware of his dual citizenship would pass the sniff test.

In fact, it downright reeks.

If the former Greens deputy leader genuinely didn’t realise there was even a remote possibility he was a New Zealander after being born across the Tasman and spending the first few years of his life there, it’s at the very least evidence of very poor judgment.

But as a fellow migrant, I find that hard to swallow.

Even after a Change.org petition and a freedom of information request three years ago, which both asked Ludlam to prove he didn’t still hold Kiwi citizenship, he wants us to believe he still didn’t bother to find out for sure.

Even when former Family First senator Bob Day’s election was ruled invalid by the High Court in April and his replacement Lucy Gichuhi faced questioning over the status of her own Kenyan citizenship (she no longer had one), we’re led to believe Ludlam still didn’t pause to think.

Whether or not you believe section 44 of the constitution is arbitrary, ‘dems the rules and all senators are bound by them.

Scott Ludlam announces his resignation. (Pic: Colin Murty/The Australian)

Another senator, Derryn Hinch, certainly complied when he renounced his New Zealand passport before standing for election.

The people of Western Australia who voted for Ludlam have a right to be furious and demand he pay back the estimated $1.6 million in income he’s accumulated, although that’s unlikely to happen given the precedent.

But there is a certain schadenfreude to all this.

As Attorney-General George Brandis pointed out on Sky News on Sunday, Ludlam was most ungracious and mean-spirited when Day was forced to vacate his seat.

In his trademark caustic way, Ludlam tweeted at the time: “turns out bob day never even existed as a senator. how perfectly appropriate.”

When a journalist asked Ludlam at his own resignation announcement whether he too was technically “never a senator”, he shot back sarcastically: “technically, that is correct. We apparently have imagined the whole thing.”

It certainly was a costly dream.

Caroline Marcus is a journalist with Sky News.

@carolinemarcus