Resolve citizenship farce in the nation’s interest

In their eagerness to hose down the citizenship fiasco, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and Attorney-General George Brandis resorted to a ridiculous metaphor yesterday, likening legitimate questions about MPs’ eligibility to sit in parliament to the Salem witch-hunts. After months of resisting an audit of MPs, in tandem with the Coalition, Bill Shorten put added pressure on the government with his opportunistic partial backflip yesterday, when he said all MPs should show documents in parliament to prove they were not dual citizens. The Prime Minister’s best course now would be to engage a credible figure, such as a retired senior judge, to oversee an audit that would centre on the minority of MPs born overseas or with overseas-born parents or grandparents.

After a week when former Senate president Stephen Parry resigned and more than a week after the High Court ruled Barnaby Joyce and ex-senators Fiona Nash, Malcolm Roberts, Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters were ineligible to be in federal parliament, it is clear the issue will not go away until it is dealt with properly. Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg claims it is absurd to accuse him of being a dual citizen given that his mother, Erica, who was born in Hungary in 1943, arrived in Australia as a stateless child after her family fled the Holocaust. It’s far more absurd for Senator Brandis, who should be able to take a dispassionate approach to a constitutional issue, to argue “this is not Salem in the 1690s”. No, minister, it’s 21st-century Australia and political stability is at stake. The Treasurer was also wide of the mark, claiming the public “have had a gutful of this, I mean it is hard enough to understand how this situation arose in the first place”. The public has had enough of the inability of the major parties to deal with what should be a straightforward, methodical process involving a couple of dozen members. As the Prime Minister, says members could raise concerns about particular MPs in parliament. But they have shown no interest in doing so. The public does not trust politicians to police themselves.

In a sign his leadership is under pressure, Mr Turnbull did himself no favours yesterday with his emotive tirade at his Perth press conference. Nobody is being unsympathetic to the Hungarian Jews and others who died under the Nazis or battled the privations of the Budapest ghetto where, as Mr Turnbull said, they were “rendered subhuman in the eyes of the fascists and the Nazis”. Those making allegations about Mr Frydenberg should “think a little deeper about the history of the Holocaust”, Mr Turnbull said. But the Holocaust is not at issue.

Like Mr Joyce, Mr Frydenberg has been one of the government’s best performers. His rise to cabinet at a young age reflects the success his immigrant family has made of their life in Australia, to which they have given so much back. Mr Frydenberg, who sought advice from a citizenship expert in Budapest on Thursday, says his concern is “resolved”. But clarification is needed. As reported yesterday, under a Hungarian citizenship law designed to address the stateless status of Jews who were murdered or driven out during World War II, anyone born in Hungary between 1941 and 1945 is automatically considered a citizen. And section 3(1) of the Hungarian citizenship act states: “The child of a Hungarian citizen shall ­become a Hungarian citizen by birth.” It was for that reason former Coalition MP Alex Somlyay, who was stateless when he came to Australia from Hungary as a child with his Jewish parents, wrote a letter in the early 1990s, when he was in parliament, renouncing any right to Hungarian citizenship. He did so on the recommendation of the Hungarian ambassador. As reported today, Mr Somlyay, who later became chief Liberal Party whip, also recalls Peter Costello doing an informal audit of the citizenship of all Coalition MPs.

The issue is not new. It should not be overlooked, as Paul Kelly wrote yesterday, that the central problem is too many “sloppy politicians failing to do their homework and accept ­responsibility”. Nor should this or any future government resort to a referendum to change the Constitution to allow dual citizens to represent Australians in parliament. The intention of the federation’s founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution was clear. Their provision, that anyone under allegiance to, subject to or a citizen of a foreign power cannot be an MP, has stood the test of time. Reversing section 44 would weaken Australian sovereignty. A referendum would be unlikely to succeed.

In our first editorial on the controversy in July 19, “True-blue Australian MPs only”, we agreed with Mr Turnbull that Mr Ludlam and Ms Waters, the first senators to fall on their swords, were guilty of “incredible sloppiness”. As we said, at least they acted with integrity. A few weeks later, when doubts arose about senators Matt Canavan and Nick Xenophon (subsequently dispelled by the High Court), we applauded the Greens for their consistency in proposing an audit of all MPs while the major parties resisted.

After months of drama, and absurdity, Mr Turnbull must assert his leadership, however belatedly, and get on with an audit. The alternative could be political death by a thousand cuts.