NewsBite

Egyptian embassy in Canberra release Anne Aly letter but questions remain

Labor MP Anne Aly says a letter from the Egyptian embassy about her citizenship ends doubts over her eligibility.

Joe Kelly and Greg Brown
8 min read
2:12PMMay 11, 2018
Print
Anne Aly faces questions over her eligibility to sit as an MP in parliament. Picture: Kym Smith
Anne Aly faces questions over her eligibility to sit as an MP in parliament. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor MP Anne Aly says the release of a letter from the Egyptian embassy about her citizenship has “put the matter to rest, once and for all”.

The Egyptian embassy in Canberra has confirmed Ms Aly relinquished her dual citizenship on May 6, 2016 after Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull demanded she produce documents to clarify her eligibility to sit in parliament.

The embassy’s statement obtained by The Australian, issued today, says: “Dr Anne Aly renounced Egyptian citizenship on May 6, 2016 having completed all the steps required and, as of that date, had completely renounced her Egyptian citizenship.”

“Nothing further needed to be done to make her renunciation effective,” the embassy statement said.

“In addition, according to the Egyptian Law Article 16 of Law Number 26 issued in 1975... any Egyptian who obtains another nationality without permission will lose his/her Egyptian nationality be default”.

Ms Aly said she was confident the letter would end doubt over her citizenship.

“I think this lays it to rest, once and for all,” she told Sky News. “The letter today from the Egyptian embassy completely clarifies that for everyone. And I’m happy with that clarification.”

The statement from the Egyptian embassy is a brand new document and bears today’s date — May 11, 2018, suggesting Dr Aly scrambled to obtain written evidence to show she was no longer an Egyptian citizen after receiving questions from The Australian yesterday.

Dr Aly has still not confirmed the date she nominated ahead of the 2016 double dissolution election. This could prove important with the decision of the High Court making clear at paragraphs 46 and 47 that a candidate must have ­relinquished their dual citizenship at least by the close of nominations which, in 2016, was midday on June 9.

However, the High Court also entertains the prospect of a political candidate needing to relinquish their citizenship by the date of their ­individual nomination, before the June 9 deadline.

This is clear where the judgement states that the now disqualified ACT Labor Senator Katy Gallagher was a “citizen of a foreign power at the time of her nomination for election to the Senate on May 31, 2016, and was for that reason incapable of being chosen as a senator at the double-dissolution election.

Dreyfus muddies Aly water

Earlier Opposition justice spokesman Mark Dreyfus has given conflicting details on the eligibility of Labor MP Anne Aly to those given by Bill Shorten.

Mr Dreyfus said he understood Dr Aly rescinded her Egyptian citizenship when she was a child while the Opposition Leader said this morning Dr Aly’s foreign citizenship was cancelled on May 6 last year.

Mr Dreyfus stood by his claim despite proof Dr Aly applied to rescind her Egyptian citizenship in May last year.

Mr Dreyfus said she may have applied to renounce her citizenship before the last election to remove any doubt she was not a foreign citizen.

Dr Aly has not provided documentary evidence proving she is not a foreign citizen.

“As I understand it Anne Aly lost her Egyptian citizenship as a child and Anne can confirm that,” Mr Dreyfus told Sky News.

When asked why Ms Aly applied to rescind her Egyptian citizenship on May 4, Mr Dreyfus said: “You would have to ask Anne”.

“It might be for the avoidance of doubt but Anne can confirm this,” he said.

PM demands Aly reveal citizenship proof

Malcolm Turnbull has demanded Labor MP Anne Aly show documents proving she is eligible to sit in parliament as he played down the Coalition’s chances of picking up any seats at the “Super Saturday” by-elections.

The Prime Minister said Bill Shorten had been shown up over the citizenship fiasco and Dr Aly should show evidence she rescinded her Egyptian citizenship before she nominated as a candidate at the 2016 election.

“Dr Aly, who Mr Shorten has assured us is eligible to sit in the parliament, has to provide some proof that she was not a citizen of another country at the time she nominated for parliament,” Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull played down prospects of the government picking up a seat in the upcoming by-elections despite One Nation vowing to preference Labor last in Longman .

“We look forward to the contest but we have to recognise that by-elections generally swing against the government, whether it is Labor or Liberal, I think there has only been one occasion since the federation was established where the government of the day has won a seat from the opposition in a by-election,” Mr Turnbull said.

He attacked the Opposition Leader for wrongly saying Labor had superior vetting systems and no Labor MPs would be found ineligible.

“This is the Labor Party’s doing, the Labor Party said that they had the best vetting system, they did say that: the best,” Mr Turnbull said.

“I said to Bill Shorten last August I wrote him a letter in fact and I said; ‘Barnaby Joyce is going to refer himself, what about you refer any members where there are issues on your side it can all be dealt with’.

“’No,’ he said, ‘our systems are perfect all of our members are eligible’.”

Shorten tells Aly: reveal truth

Bill Shorten says West Australian MP Anne Aly will have to make public her evidence she successfully rescinded her Egyptian citizenship before she nominated as Labor’s candidate at the 2016 election.

The Opposition Leader said he had spoken with the member for Cowan about the revelations in The Australian this morning that she had not uploaded any evidence to the citizenship registry to show she was eligible to sit in parliament.

He said Dr Aly told him she had confirmation her Egyptian citizenship was rescinded on May 6, 2016 — just two days after she applied for her dual allegiance to be cancelled.

“I’ve spoken to Ms Aly this morning, she advises me she had confirmation from the Egyptian embassy on May 6, 2016,” Mr Shorten said.

“I’ve asked her to reconfirm the advice from the Egyptian embassy and she is doing that.

“I think she will have to make that public.”

The Australian exclusively reported that Dr Aly requested the cancellation of the Egyptian citizenship on May 4, 2016 — two weeks after disqualified Labor senator Katy Gallagher applied to cancel her British citizenship.

Unlike other MPs who are still facing scrutiny under section 44 of the Constitution, Dr Aly has conceded that she did hold a dual citizenship of Egypt but has not produced any documents showing when or if it was cancelled.

The citizenship registry, which was created in December after the dual-citizenship fiasco struck, shows that Dr Aly requested the cancellation of her Egyptian citizenship on May 4, 2016. This was two weeks after the now disqualified Senator Gallagher requested the cancellation of her British citizenship on April 20 and just over a month before the close of nominations on June 9.

While Labor previously ­argued its MPs had taken “all reasonable steps” to relinquish foreign citizenships, Wednesday’s High Court ruling has invalidated this argument.

Constitutional law expert ­George Williams said the decision meant that, if Dr Aly’s application was not granted by the date of her nomination for the 2016 election, she was ineligible to sit in parliament.

 
 

“You must have removed any dual citizenship by the time you nominate,” Professor Williams said. “The only exception is if the other country irremediably prevents you from doing so. In the normal case, you cannot be a dual citizen at the point of nomination — that means if the other country has delayed your application or had a go-slow or whatever reasons emerge, then bad luck.”

Dr Aly, who holds Cowan by a margin of 0.7 per cent, did not ­answer three questions put by The Australian: when she nominated, when her Egyptian citizenship was cancelled and when she was ­notified of its cancellation.

A spokeswoman for Dr Aly said: “Anne’s Egyptian citizenship came to an end well before she nominated for election.”

The decision of the High Court makes clear at paragraphs 46 and 47 that a candidate must have ­relinquished their dual citizenship at least by the close of nominations which, in 2016, was midday on June 9.

The High Court also entertains the prospect of a political candidate needing to relinquish their citizenship by the date of their ­individual nomination, before the June 9 deadline. This is clear where the judgment states that Ms Gallagher was a “citizen of a foreign power at the time of her nomination for election to the Senate on May 31, 2016, and was for that reason incapable of being chosen as a senator at the double-dissolution election”.

If Dr Aly nominated before May 4 — the date when she ­requested the cancellation of her citizenship — her position in parliament could still be imperilled even if her Egyptian citizenship was revoked before the June 9 cut-off. As early as April 5, 2016 — one month before she had requested the cancellation of her dual citizenship — Bill Shorten had talked up Dr Aly as Labor’s candidate in Cowan during a visit to Perth.

As of last night, Dr Aly had still not updated her citizenship registry with any document from Egyptian authorities showing when and if her citizenship was cancelled. The only Egyptian documentation is a letter from the embassy in Canberra on July 31 last year ­acknowledging that on May 4, 2016, Ms Aly had sought to relinquish her Egyptian nationality.

Shorten’s regret

The Labor leader expressed regret for the party’s role in the citizenship fiasco despite claiming last year none of his MPs would be found ineligible. This week Labor’s Susan Lamb, Josh Wilson and Justine Keay all quit their lower house seats following the High Court decision to disqualify their caucus colleague Katy Gallagher. The Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie was also forced to quit, prompting four by-elections.

Mr Shorten this morning said he would not resign as leader if Labor lost one of its seats in the by-election despite the favourability of the impromptu polls to opposition parties.

“I’m sorry it has got to this, this section 44 of the Constitution, we genuinely believed based on advice we had been receiving for two decades, long before I got in this job, that our people had done what was meant to be done,” he said.

“But the High Court has taken its decision, that is life we accept the verdict. But these elections are an early opportunity for people to decide, do they want to give away this money to the top end of town or do they want to look after ordinary people.”

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese this morning categorically ruled out any more Labor MPs being found ineligible, including Ms Aly. “All you can do is make judgments based upon the advice that you have,” he told Nine Network.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said a poor result for Labor in the by-elections could give Mr Albanese an excuse to challenge Mr Shorten for the party’s leadership.

“Bill Shorten is like a wounded gazelle and Albo is the lion there waiting in the long grass and the question is, is he ready to pounce?” Mr Frydenberg said.

Professor Williams, dean of law at the University of NSW, warned that the High Court judgment meant a number of MPs in parliament could still be ineligible.

He said the current system was unworkable and there was a need to change the law by going to a referendum — an option that Malcolm Turnbull and Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann have played down.

“Some people have already missed the boat for the next election because a foreign government won’t process their paperwork quickly enough,” Professor Williams said. “At the moment, who can sit in our parliament is determined by other countries.”

More Coverage

Richo: By-elections to change very little
Graham Richardson
Lamb ‘eligible to run again’
JARED OWENS
Super Saturday to cost $7.5m
JOE KELLY, GREG BROWN

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/citizenship-cloud-hovers-over-labors-anne-aly/news-story/6f9d294f67203c9cd5722a2f40578026