Labor senator Katy Gallagher a possible Ecuadorean citizen

One of Labor’s attack dogs over the citizenship crisis, Katy Gallagher, is possiblly an Ecuadorean dual citizen.

Labor senator Katy Gallagher with Bill Shorten. Picture: Jason Edwards

One of Labor’s attack dogs over the citizenship crisis, Katy Gallagher, can be revealed as a possible Ecuadorean dual citizen.

Senator Gallagher, the former ACT chief minister, has said publicly her parents were British and that she has renounced her British citizenship, but The Daily Telegraph has obtained her mother’s entry card to Australia, which shows she was born in the South American nation.

Article seven of Ecuador­’s Constitution states nationality is ­obtained by birth or naturalisation and shall not be forfeited through marriage, dissolution or acquiring another ­nationality. “The following persons are ­Ecuadorean by birth: persons born abroad of a mother or father born in Ecuador and their ­descendants up to the third degree of consanguinity,” it says.

Senator Gallagher’s spokesman told The Telegraph she had not renounced Ecuadorean citizenship and had not sought legal advice on ­whether she was a citizen. “Katy is not and has never been a citizen of ­Ecuador,” he said. The case is similar to those of Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash — citizenship through descent that was not ­actively sought.

TROY BRAMSTON P12