ALP blocks citizenship scrutiny of dubious trio

Bill Shorten is defying a citizenship truce offer and refusing to ­release documents of at least three MPs under a cloud.

Bill Shorten in Geebung, Queensland, last night. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten is defying a citizenship truce offer and refusing to ­release documents of at least three MPs under a cloud despite assurances Labor has nothing to fear about the widening crisis.

The ALP’s resistance comes as former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce called for a peace deal, suggesting the Opposition Leader and Malcolm Turnbull agree to hold several by-elections in February if more parliamentarians are found to be dual citizens.

The Prime Minister and Mr Shorten failed to finalise new ­citizenship-disclosure rules yesterday as the government intensified pressure on Labor’s Justine Keay and Susan Lamb, both of whom hold marginal seats.

The government has known about the MPs’ circumstances for months but is only now signalling it is prepared to challenge opposition members as more of its own parliamentarians, including Liberal backbencher John Alexander, face questions over their eligibility.

Mr Turnbull presented the ­Coalition’s plan to end the dual-citizenship impasse during a meeting with Mr Shorten in Melbourne, but The Australian understands the Opposition Leader failed to offer an alternative plan or amendments.

Despite having had the draft of the Prime Minister’s suggested resolution on disclosure statements since Monday afternoon, it is understood that Mr Shorten went empty-handed to the meeting and offered no written draft document of his own.

It is understood that Mr Shorten also failed to articulate what Labor’s position was or what if any changes it would seek to make to the resolution.

Mr Shorten is believed to have wanted a clause to allow a “reasonable steps” test, which has been taken to be an implicit ­admission that the Labor leader believes several of his own MPs will be tripped up by the High Court’s ruling on the issue.

Ms Keay, the member for Braddon in Tasmania, has conceded she was still a British citizen when she nominated to run for parliament because her renunciation had not taken effect, while Ms Lamb, who won Longman, north of Brisbane, has not ­clarified when she ceased being British. A third Labor MP, Josh Wilson, who was born in England, is also facing questions because it is unclear when his renunciation took effect. Ms Lamb and Mr Wilson, the member for Fremantle, say they took reasonable steps and began their renunciation processes in May last year, about the same time as Ms Keay, whose renunciation was not registered until July 11 — more than a month after nominations closed and more than a week after the July 2 election.

As Mr Turnbull warned parliament may have to be recalled to deal with any further High Court referrals, Mr Joyce said it was time the two leaders behaved like “Menzies and Curtin” and agreed to send all their suspect MPs to the polls on one day.

The Nationals leader, who is the most senior MP to lose his job in the dual-citizenship fiasco, said he did not “believe for one second” Mr Shorten did not have his own problems. “The thing I’m a bit ­annoyed about is, when the ­National Party outed themselves, they should have all outed themselves,” Mr Joyce told The Australian yesterday while campaigning in Tamworth for the December 2 by-election.

“Maybe (if that happened) the High Court would have seen it differently. If they saw like 20 people in the High Court rather than just myself as the only lower house member (with dual citizenship) then they might have said ‘this is kind of ridiculous’.”

Liberal Jason Falinski has joined the list of MPs facing questions about dual citizenship. The Daily Telegraph reports today Mr Falinski, who took over Bronwyn Bishop’s safe Sydney seat of Mackellar last year, could be a Polish citizen by descent — a claim ­denied by Mr Falinski. Immigration documents from June and July 1958 reportedly show his ­father and grandfather had Polish citizenship when they arrived in Australia.

The government was offered a lifeline when lower house crossbencher Cathy McGowan yesterday confirmed she would continue to support the ­government on ­issues of ­confidence and supply, even if more Coalition MPs were caught in the mess.

Her crossbench colleague Rebekha Sharkie demanded a meeting with Mr Turnbull for assurances the Coalition could deliver “stable and effective” government. “Because of that instability (from the citizenship saga) I feel we’re not addressing key issues the community wants us to work on,” Ms Sharkie said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said he would approach any no-confidence or supply motions on their merits, but declared a House of Representatives election “would start to make more sense” if several lower house MPs were disqualified. Labor would need the support of all crossbenchers to come close to a successful vote of no confidence but this appears ­unlikely if the government maintains the support of Ms McGowan and Ms Sharkie.

The Australian understands Mr Turnbull is open to shortening a 21-day deadline for all 226 parliamentarians to disclose any current or former foreign citizenship and the steps they took to renounce it, as the major parties engage in a standoff over the process. Mr Shorten questioned why MPs would not also have to confirm the birthplace of their grandparents under Mr Turnbull’s proposal and said five days was enough to make the relevant disclosures.

Mr Shorten released his own British renunciation papers at the height of the dual-citizenship ­fiasco but told parliament other MPs should not have to provide documentary proof.