Bill Shorten releases his citizenship proof

Bill Shorten’s call for a ceasefire over the dual citizenship debacle may be short-lived.

Bill Shorten tables the renunciation of his British citizenship in parliament yesterday, declaring the citizenship ‘circus has to stop’. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten’s call for a ceasefire over dual citizenship has been short-lived after a government frontbencher demanded Labor senator Katy Gallagher clarify whether she was a British citizen when she entered parliament.

After weeks of being quizzed over his citizenship status, the Opposition Leader yesterday tabled paperwork confirming he stopped being British from June 26, 2006.

Malcolm Turnbull and former prime minister Tony Abbott had urged Mr Shorten to put up or “shut up” as the government came under increasing pressure to ­demote Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash, who await a High Court ruling on their dual citizenship cases.

While Mr Shorten declared “the circus has to stop”, Senator Gallagher, manager of ­opposition business in the Senate, was targeted by Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, who said it appeared she had sat as a British citizen in the previous parliament.

“I call on Senator Gallagher to now release all advice and documents relating to her statement to the Senate today, as well as confirmation of whether she was a dual-citizen when she entered the Senate,” he told The Australian.

Senator Gallagher clarified her situation in the Senate yesterday following questions over her links to Ecuador, but admitted she took “all reasonable steps” to renounce any entitlement to British citizenship only after sitting in the upper house for more than a year.

The ACT senator’s parents were British citizens, while her mother was also born in Ecuador. Senator Gallagher did not say whether they had ever renounced their British citizenship but believed she was not British, based on advice from the high commission.

Malcolm Turnbull makes a point in question time. Picture: Kym Smith

She was not told she needed to renounce any entitlement to ­foreign citizenship when she entered federal parliament in March 2015, but the ALP vetting team ­advised her “out of an abundance of caution” to fill out a British ­renunciation form in April last year ahead of the 2016 poll.

“I never took any steps to ­become a British citizen. Accordingly, I was always of the understanding I was not a British citizen,” she said. “I am not a citizen of Ecuador. I am not a citizen of the United Kingdom. I am only an Australian citizen.”

As the country’s alternative prime minister, Mr Shorten conceded there could be no doubt about his eligibility to sit in parliament and said releasing documentary proof should “end” speculation about numerous MPs across the political divide.

“I strongly believe that MPs and senators should not be forced to produce evidence to counter claims that are made completely without evidence,” he told the House of Representatives.

“In an age of Twitter trolls (and) baseless online conspiracies, this is a chance for parliament to declare we’re bigger and better than this.”

Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said there may be no mechanism for challenging someone’s previous parliamentary term. Under section 44 of the Constitution, an MP who is a “subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power” can be disqualified from parliament.

Senator Nash and South Australian Nick Xenophon yesterday became the sixth and seventh MPs to have their elections referred to the High Court.