Dual-citizen MP Susan Lamb’s mother tells: ‘She didn’t contact me. I would have helped’

Federal Labor MP Susan Lamb’s fight to avoid a citizenship referral to the High Court has been dealt a blow.

Susan Lamb’s mother, Hazel, at her Queensland home. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Federal Labor MP Susan Lamb’s fight to avoid a referral to the High Court has been dealt a blow after her estranged mother yesterday raised doubts about the Queensland backbencher’s efforts to renounce her British citizenship.

The first-term MP, the member for the marginal seat of Longman on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, has consistently claimed she took the “reasonable steps’’ required under the Constitution to renounce her British citizenship and remain in parliament.

Ms Lamb, who holds British citizenship through her late ­Scottish-born father, began attempts to renounce her citizenship just two weeks before nominations closed for candidates at the July 2, 2016, federal election.

The UK Home Office later rejected the application because Ms Lamb had failed to subsequently provide a copy of her parents’ marriage certificate, needed to first prove that she held British citizenship before it could be renounced. Ms Lamb — who required her mother Hazel’s consent to obtain a copy of the marriage certificate from the Queensland registry — has refused to answer questions over why she didn’t provide the critical document to the UK Home Office.

Instead, Ms Lamb declared in a statement to parliament last year that she had provided “all relevant information required in addition to all documents that I was practically and legally able to obtain’’ in her bid to renounce her British citizenship. “I am satisfied that I took all reasonable steps to renounce any claim to British citizenship prior to nominating for the 2016 federal election,’’ she added.

Ms Lamb’s mother, who lives north of Brisbane, said her daughter had not contacted her before or after the election seeking the marriage certificate. Her mother — who last spoke to her daughter in 2014, but has been estranged for years — remains in contact with the MP’s sister, Rachel, and said she would have immediately helped Ms Lamb in getting the marriage ­certificate.

“I didn’t know about her going into politics until it was pretty much all over and done,’’ she said. “It was a big surprise. She didn’t contact me but I would have definitely helped her.’’

The Turnbull government has warned it will use its restored ­majority in the lower house to refer Ms Lamb to the High Court if ­Bill Shorten fails to secure her resignation before the resumption of parliament next month.

In a statement issued to The Australian yesterday, Ms Lamb said her family situation was “complex”.

“This was a very traumatic ­period of my life and I’m not going to relive it just because The Australian thinks it’s fair game to dig around my family history,” Ms Lamb said. “My lengthy (citizenship) disclosure statement provided to the parliament on 5 December demonstrates the steps I took. The view I have taken reasonable steps is backed by constitutional legal experts in Australia and in Britain.”

If the government had been “serious about being uncertain of my eligibility”, it would have supported a Labor motion to refer MPs from both major parties and the crossbench to the High Court, Ms Lamb said.

A British government guide for people renouncing their citizenship says an applicant should “send evidence” with their application proving they are British.

Before July 2006, a British man could pass on citizenship to his children only if the parents were married, making a marriage certificate relevant to Ms Lamb’s renunciation.

Ms Lamb did not initially provide any evidence of her British citizenship, and was asked by the UK Home Office for documents — specifically her birth certificate and that of her father, as well as her parents’ marriage certificate — after the election. She subsequently provided the birth certificates, but her application was later rejected because of the absence of the marriage ­certificate.

British lawyer Adrian Berry, who specialises in British nationality law, has provided written advice to Ms Lamb stating “evidence” of her citizenship status was not necessary to comply with legislative requirements.

“By the end of May 2016, she had fulfilled the legislative requirements imposed upon her in order to renounce British citizenship,” he said. “What remained was for the (British) secretary of state, not Ms Lamb.”

University of Sydney constitutional law expert Anne ­Twomey said the High Court could take two possible approaches to Ms Lamb’s case, including that the “reasonable steps” test applies only where renunciation is not legally possible.

Under this scenario, Ms Lamb would be disqualified because the British government permits renunciation and, according to the MP and her lawyer, she was a dual citizen when she nominated for the election. Or the court could find that her election was valid as long as she had taken “all the required steps within her power before the nomination date”.

“Only if (the court) did decide that it was necessary for Ms Lamb to provide the marriage certificate before the nomination date to satisfy the reasonable steps test would the question of whether she had taken all necessary steps within her power ... arise,” Professor Twomey said.

“Such steps might include requesting her mother’s permission for obtaining a copy of the certificate or applying to the (Queensland) registrar for the exercise of discretion in the extraordinary circumstances.”

Professor Twomey noted that if Ms Lamb was still British, the issue of how to obtain documentation such as the marriage certificate to renounce her foreign citizenship would still be relevant if she contested a ­by-election.