Coalition to challenge Labor candidate’s eligibility over claims Shireen Morris is Fiji dual citizen

Shireen Morris, a prominent constitutional lawyer with Fijian-Indian heritage, is favoured to defeat sitting Liberal MP ­Michael Sukkar in the eastern suburbs seat. But the Coalition says the ALP candidate is a dual citizen.

The Coalition says it is ­prepared to challenge the ­result in the Victorian seat of Deakin should it be won by Labor, arguing the ALP candidate is a dual citizen.

Shireen Morris, a prominent constitutional lawyer with Fijian-Indian heritage, is favourite with bookmakers to defeat sitting Liberal MP ­Michael Sukkar in the eastern suburbs seat.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Coalition’s legal advice claims she has been a Fijian citizen since her birth.

Her status was publicly questioned by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the weekend, while defending his own candidate in a Lower House Canberra seat, saying there “may well be issues”.

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Labor is adamant there are no doubts over Ms Morris’s citizenship status because dual citizens were banned under Fiji’s 1997 Constitution and she is an Australian by birth. It last night slammed the claims as “dishonest and dumb”, calling the PM a “desperate liar” who was spouting “increasingly unhinged nonsense” to distract voters.

Shireen Morris is Labor's federal candidate in the seat of Deakin. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Ms Morris’s case bares striking similarities with that of Melbourne-born Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash, who was stripped of his Australian citizenship last year under foreign fighter laws.

Ms Morris’s citizenship ­declaration form argues she is not or has ever been a ­citizen of Fiji, as does Labor’s own legal advice.

Fiji’s citizenship laws have had a precarious existence, with various constitutions having been suspended and rewritten during multiple coups.

The Coalition’s legal advice says she was born a Fijian ­citizen by virtue of her father’s ­Fijian citizenship under the country’s 1970 Constitution.

Several constitutional experts told the Herald Sun they could not comment publicly on Ms Morris’s status because they had worked with her ­previously.

Two said they “highly doubted” she would not have taken the proper steps but conceded the country’s four constitutions in the past three decades were problematic.

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The Morrison Government argued because Prakash’s ­father was born in Fiji, he, too, was a citizen of the Pacific island nation.

It caused diplomatic tensions between Australia and Fiji, with Fijian immigration authorities declaring Prakash was not a citizen because his Fijian father never applied for his son’s citizenship.

Under the 1997 Fijian ­Constitution, dual citizenship was prohibited and a minor who obtained another citizenship must renounce it before their 22nd birthday or else forfeit their Fijian citizenship.

However, the Coalition argues this only applies to people who acquired foreign citizenship from or after 1997.

A Coalition campaign spokesman said last night: “The Labor Party needs to ­urgently explain how Bill Shorten’s candidate for ­Deakin is eligible to run for parliament given she is a Fijian citizen.

“Despite once giving a ‘rolled-gold’ guarantee about every Labor MP’s eligibility, it seems Mr Shorten has failed to do his homework yet again.”

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