John Alexander urgently seeking UK citizenship clarification

Liberal MP John Alexander is still urgently trying to clarify his citizenship status after questions emerged over his British heritage.

Liberal Bennelong MP John Alexander. Photo: Adam Ward.

Liberal MP John Alexander is still urgently trying to clarify his citizenship status after questions emerged over his British heritage, but he says he believes he is “solely an Australian”.

The member for Bennelong, who holds the Sydney seat on 9.8 per cent, is the latest parliamentarian to become embroiled in the dual citizenship fiasco, which has already disqualified former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, former Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash, former Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts.

Former Senate president Stephen Parry will also have his election referred to the High Court next week after disclosing he was a British citizen by descent of his father. Mr Parry waited until the High Court handed down its black letter law ruling before revealing he had a citizenship problem.

Mr Alexander’s father, Gilbert Alexander, was born in the UK in the early 1900s and migrated to Australia before he was born in 1951. He has been unable to say when his father renounced his British citizenship.

“I am still of the view that I am solely an Australian citizen. As my father was born in the UK, and consistent with the plan of action outlined by the Prime Minister yesterday, I am making further inquiries,” Mr Alexander said.

“On verification of my status I will make a full statement. Until then I have nothing further to add.”

Bennelong voters deserve ‘clarity’

Earlier, Former Labor MP for the seat of Bennelong, Maxine McKew, said voters in the inner-west Sydney electorate deserved “clarity” about whether sitting Liberal MP, John Alexander, is a dual citizen of Britain.

Ms McKew told The Australian the validity of every election since she lost the seat in 2010 was now in doubt with Mr Alexander today conducting checks to determine whether he is a British citizen by descent through his father, Gilbert.

Ms McKew said the outcome of the 2010 contest could have been different if she had used section 44 of the constitution as a “weapon” against Mr Alexander and deployed a more effective counter-attack against what she described as an “ugly and aggressive campaign” run by the Liberal Party in the seat.

Ms McKew, who is now an enterprise professor at Melbourne University, said the section 44 crisis engulfing the government had caused her to reflect on whether she was right to have rejected advice from Labor to run a more negative “character based” campaign against Mr Alexander in 2010.

“By all accounts John Alexander has been a solid and conscientious MP. But the voters of Bennelong deserve clarity in this matter. At stake is the validity of every election going back to 2010,” Ms McKew told The Australian.

Maxine McKew.

“On a personal note, I recall, as if it were yesterday, the ugly and aggressive campaign of John Alexander’s supporters in 2010.

“I rejected my own party’s urgings to run a negative character based campaign against the Liberal candidate. But an effective counter attack was needed.

“If I had been a bit more forensic and deployed the legitimate weapon of raising questions about Section 44 of the constitution, history may have played out differently.”

Under section 44 of the constitution, anyone with a dual citizenship is prevented from sitting in the federal parliament with six MPs having already been disqualified including former Senate President Stephen Parry, Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce and Nationals Deputy Leader, Fiona Nash.

Ms McKew, a former ABC journalist and presenter, was a high profile candidate who ran for the seat of Bennelong in 2007 and stole the seat from John Howard when Labor was returned to government under the leadership of Kevin Rudd.