WA senator forced out of office after shock discovery

WA senator Ben Small has been forced out of parliament after Liberal Party officials made a shocking discovery.

WA senator Ben Small has resigned from parliament after discovering he was a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Small made the bombshell announcement in a statement released on Friday, confirming he had fallen foul of section 44 of the Australian Constitution.

Mr Small said the dual citizenship first came to light on April 6, which was four days before Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the election.

He did not receive official confirmation until April 14, after parliament was dissolved.

The mid-campaign timing of his resignation has therefore raised key questions.

A citizenship declaration Mr Small signed in December 2020 also shows he ticked “yes” to having a father, grandfather and grandmother born in New Zealand.

He also declared his maternal grandfather was born in the United Kingdom.

Mr Small completed a citizenship declaration in December 2020.

But on Friday, Mr Small said he first learned he may have entitlement to New Zealand citizenship after Liberal Party officials raised the query with him last week.

It is unclear why these concerns were not raised in 2020.

Once these concerns were raised, Mr Small then took steps to engage with the New Zealand High Commission to clarify his citizenship status and renounce it if necessary.

Mr Small received official confirmation on Thursday afternoon.

“While the question of my ineligibility to have been appointed to a Senate casual vacancy would need to be confirmed by the Court of Disputed Returns, I believe that my circumstances are sufficiently clear and it is most appropriate that I promptly resign from the Senate myself,” he said on Friday.

“As a result, I have today provided my resignation to the President of the Senate.

“I remain strongly committed to fighting for the issues that matter to Western Australians, especially the small businesses across WA whose interests I have championed. Now that any questions around my eligibility have been resolved, I look forward to continuing to campaign across WA as a candidate for the Senate and to ensuring the Morrison Government can continue to implement our plans for an even stronger Australia.”

Mr Small announced his resignation on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Small was appointed to the Senate in November 2020 to fill a casual vacancy left by Mathias Cormann.

“I was born in Perth in 1988 and have always been an Australian citizen. At the time of my birth, my mother was an Australian Citizen and my father, who was born in New Zealand, was an Australian Permanent Resident,” Mr Small said.

“I had always understood that I had no entitlement to New Zealand citizenship based on the laws that applied at the time of my birth.”

Mr Small is certainly not the first federal politician to breach section 44 of the Constitution, and as such questions have been raised about whether he ought to have considered the issue much sooner.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was disqualified by the High Court for exactly the same reason in December 2017.

“I’ve always been an Australian citizen born in Tamworth,” Mr Joyce told parliament at the time.

“Neither I or my parents had any reason to believe that I may be a citizen of any other country.

“I was born in Australia in 1967 to an Australian mother and I think I’m fifth generation. My father was born in New Zealand, came to Australia in 1947 as a British subject.”

Originally published as WA senator forced out of office after shock discovery