Greek bearing a grudge Bill Kardamitsis says kick MPs out

The Labor candidate whose ties to Greece ruled him ineligible for parliament 25 years ago is adamant dual-citizen MPs should be kicked out.

Bill Kardamitsis

The Labor candidate whose ties to Greece ruled him ineligible for parliament in a key High Court decision 25 years ago is adamant the seven MPs exposed as having dual citizenship should be kicked out of federal politics.

Bill Kardamitsis, who contested the Victorian seat of Wills at a 1992 by-election, told The Australian: “I thought the moment I became an Australian citizen and swore my allegiance to the Queen — I thought that was it.

“As far as I’m concerned, the whole lot of them are ineligible,” he said. “I think they should be treated in the same way that I was treated ... I could have been the federal member for Wills.”

The citizenship imbroglio gripping the parliament is scheduled to return to the High Court for three days of hearings from tomorrow, with the government arguing MPs should not be disqualified for being unaware they could be citizens of a foreign country.

The government argues that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Nationals senators Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan have not breached section 44(i) of the Constitution because they did not know they were dual citizens.

The same argument is made for former Greens senator Larissa Waters and South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, but not for One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts or former Greens senator Scott Ludlam, both of whom were born overseas.

Section 44(i) states that an individual is ineligible for federal parliament if they are the “subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power”.

Dean of Law at the University of NSW, George Williams, said it was reasonable to assume there were more MPs who were unaware they were dual citizens.

Professor Williams said a strict interpretation of the Constitution by the High Court could lead to further political disruption and future by-elections, suggesting the government hold a referendum at the next federal poll to overhaul section 44(i).

“It would cost about half the cost of the same-sex marriage postal survey if you do it that way,” Professor Williams told The Australian. “We’re spending $122 million on a vote we don’t need. I think we should spend about $60m on something we should fix.”

Mr Kardamitsis said he was disappointed the parliament had not acted to repair section 44(i) after he was deemed ineligible to run for parliament in 1992.

“I think that it was the responsibility of the major parties to rectify it,” he said. “They should have done something about it.”

In its 1992 decision, the High Court found Mr Kardamitsis had not taken all “reasonable steps” to divest himself of his Greek citizenship. That ruled him out of contention for the seat after he polled second to independent candidate Phil Cleary, who was knocked out of the race under section 44(iv) — holding an “office of profit under the crown” — because he had not resigned from his job as a teacher.

Mr Kardamitsis yesterday urged the government to fix the problem, arguing that more MPs would be caught out. “If they have to do it by referendum, then they should do it,” he said.