PM makes clear he will consider sending Opposition MPs to High Court without Labor backing

TURNBULL and Shorten have been accused of being a ‘dictator’ and wanting to ‘blow up the parliament’, respectively, as the citizenship mess gets even uglier.

Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a strong statement to Labor from APEC, indicating he won’t back down on his position over handling the parliamentary dual citizenship crisis. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

THE nation’s most senior court is now at risk of being clogged by a succession of dual citizenship cases as the battle between Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten intensifies.

Which could mean the debacle already disrupting the operation of Parliament itself would continue into the New Year with a run of by-elections from next March.

Labor today accused Prime Minister Turnbull of acting like a “tin-pot dictator” as he and senior colleagues repeated threats to have the eligibility of Opposition MPs to sit in Parliament tested by referral to the High Court — with or without Labor support.

The government replied Opposition Leader Shorten was trying to “blow up the Parliament”.

The number of MPs and senators suspected of failing to obey the Constitution’s requirements on dual citizenship is now 28 to 30 by some counts, and only the High Court can rule on their status.

In Vietnam for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Mr Turnbull rejected a request from Labor Leader Shorten to not unilaterally refer any Opposition MPs to the High Court.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is not willing to compromise with the Opposition Leader over handling the citizenship crisis. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

“I will be very clear about this: We will vote to refer to the High Court anybody, whether they are on the government side, the Labor side or on the crossbenches, if there are substantial grounds to believe they are not in compliance with the Constitution,” Mr Turnbull said.

“To ask me to do anything else is quite unworthy. And I’m disappointed that he made that request and that he even thought that was a proper thing to do.

“The principle that we have to uphold is compliance with the Constitution.”

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong accused Mr Turnbull of being a “tin-pot dictator”, telling Adelaide radio any partisan referrals to the High Court would be a sign of desperation.

“This is really a very desperate and diminished Prime Minister we’ve seen. I think Australians, who are rightly sick of this, want it resolved,” Senator Wong said.

Labor Senator Penny Wong has called Malcolm Turnbull a dictator. Picture: James Ross/AAP

However, Defence Industries Minister Christopher Pyne made clear the Government would not be pushed around.

He argued that if the Liberals and Nationals were referring their own members to the court, Labor MPs could also expect to be put on the list.

“I don’t care if Labor wants to co-operate or not,” Mr Pyne told Channel 9.

“”Bill Shorten is trying to blow up the Parliament, we’re trying to resolve the issue that the High Court has created for us.

“If Bill Shorten thinks he can carve out Labor MPs from the same rules that apply to everybody else in the Parliament he has another thing coming.”

The unilateral, or partisan, referrals of MPs to the High Court are expected to follow joint referrals which saw three senators and one MP told they were not qualified to sit in Parliament. A fifth senator has resigned on similar citizenship grounds.

However, it would set a precedent which Attorney-General George Brandis has warned against.

It was a “very dangerous course”, Senator Brandis told the Senate in August, and “should never be done on a party-line vote”.

Trying to ‘blow up the parliament’? Bill Shorten is also copping insults as the bitter argument over dual citizenship intensifies. Picture: Darren England/AAP