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Greens senator Larissa Waters resigns

GREENS leader Richard Di Natale admits it’s been a “shocking few weeks” for the party after the loss of another senator today.

Matt YoungMatt Young
@MattYoung
4 min read
July 18, 2017 - 8:26PM
Larissa Waters becomes second Greens senator forced to quit over dual citizenship

GREENS leader Richard Di Natale has denied his party is in disarray after a citizenship scandal claimed a second senator in less than a week.

Larissa Waters resigned on Tuesday after confirmation she was a citizen of Canada — a country she spent the first 11 months of her life, but hasn’t ever returned to.

Under section 44 of the constitution, anyone elected to the Australian Parliament must only be citizens of Australia. Ms Waters’ colleague Scott Ludlam just days ago quit after he became aware he was still a citizen of New Zealand.

Mr Di Natale was asked on ABC’s 7.30 program tonight if the loss of two senators meant the party was “in disarray”.

He denied it was — but admitted it had been “a shocking few weeks” for the Greens.

“Two incredibly fine people made bad mistakes and they’re paying for it with their jobs,” he told host Leigh Sales.

He confirmed the internal party processes were now under review.

“Our internal processes didn’t pick it up and they should have. And that’s why I spoke to our party conveners and made it clear we need to have an urgent review and we have all committed to having a thorough review of our party processes [including] the way we vet our candidates.”

Asked if the pair should have to pay their salaries back, or be fiend, he said: “They’re already paying a high price.”

Sales asked him if it was fair for voters to doubt whether the party could be trusted with “the big picture” when it couldn’t get such basic details right.

“I understand. Our challenge is to fix it. That there’s challenge that is before us. That’s why with our conveners, our national party, we’re undergoing a branch review.

Earlier, Ms Waters — who captured the world’s attention after becoming the first woman to breastfeed in Federal Parliament — announced her resignation this afternoon, describing her work as an Australian politician as a “real honour”. She was elected in 2011.

Rumours were rife over the fate of the Greens deputy leader on Tuesday morning, but the announcement came Tuesday afternoon when Ms Waters explained she was a dual citizen.

She was born in Winnipeg, Canada and left at the age of 11 months.

The Queenslander warned: “I know there’s many politicians in the Senate born overseas and there may well be others that have to make an embarassing revelation as well.”

She explained that she had never been back to her place of birth and was under the impression that she had been naturalised as an Australian.

She said she thought she had the choice at age 21 to choose whether to be a Canadian citizen, which she decided against.

“But it seems the law was changed a week after I was born and in fact I should have actively renounced Canadian citizenship,” Ms Waters said in a press conference.

“I will now obviously do that.

“I apologise wholeheartedly for damage and embarrassment this will cause, I take full responsibility for the oversight. It was my fault and my fault alone.”

Ms Waters said she didn’t know what the future held for her.

“I left Canada as a baby and I’ve never been back, I had no idea I was a Canadian citizen.”

She said her parents were working and studying in Canada “briefly” at the time of her birth.

The citizenship issue is the same problem that saw the resignation of Greens senator Scott Ludlam just days ago. Mr Ludlam holds dual citizenship of Australia and New Zealand.

It was Mr Ludlam’s shock resignation that made Ms Waters do some double checking herself. She said she “immediately took steps to check and was devastated to hint there might be a serious problem”.

She received confirmation from the Canadian High Commission yesterday afternoon.

Under section 44 of the constitution, that makes both Ms Waters and Mr Ludlam ineligible to hold elected office as they are a breach of the Australian Constitution.

The controversial law has been described as “outdated” and “bizarre”.

Holding dual citizenship currently disqualifies anyone from being a member of parliament, according to Article 44(i) of the Constitution.

“It is also possible that any person may seek enforcement of a penalty against a person who has taken a seat in the parliament in breach of the Constitution or electoral act,” Section 44 reads.

“This right to sue is created by the Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act 1975.”

In May, Waters made global headlines, even capturing the attention of US rapper Snoop Dogg, after breastfeeding two-month-old Alia on the floor of the Federal parliament.

“I am so proud that my daughter Alia is the first baby to be breastfed in the Federal Parliament,” Senator Waters said at the time.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has assured the public he has double-checked the rest of the Greens party members’ citizenship and all have received the tick of approval.

Many Australian Parliamentarians were born overseas. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was born in Wales, held dual citizenship while growing up but renounced her British citizenship prior to entering Federal parliament in 1998.

- youngma@news.com.au

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