John Alexander can still hold court in the wait

John Alexander has been hot on the campaign trail and facing a very tight logistical timetable.

John Alexander and Craig Laundy on the hustings. Picture: Christian Gilles

Just two days since he resigned his northwestern Sydney seat of Bennelong, John Alexander was hot on the campaign trail and facing a very tight logistical timetable if he is to retake his place in parliament.

The by-election was set yesterday for December 16, leaving Mr Alexander only nine days until nominations close on November 23 to obtain confirmation of his renunciation of his British dual citizenship, and be endorsed as the Liberal candidate.

The former tennis star and coach was forced to resign from parliament after it emerged he is likely to have British citizenship by descent, since his father was English-born though he migrated to Australia as a young child.

At a press conference at Eastwood in the heart of the multi-ethnic electorate, Mr Alexander said he had put the renunciation process in motion and was confident British authorities would complete it in time.

“We hope to hear from the Home Office within a week,” said Mr Alexander, who only learned of the date for the by-election through the media.

The British high commission in Canberra would not discuss individual cases yesterday, however a spokeswoman confirmed parliamentarians caught up in the citizenship chaos had been given a direct contact in the UK’s Visa and Immigration office in London to handle their cases.

It is understood Liberal Party apparatchiki are aware of the risk that if Mr Alexander is preselected for Bennelong, and he does not get confirmation of his renunciation of British citizenship before the close of nominations — the trigger set by the Constitution and High Court for excluding dual nationals — the party will have put up a candidate who cannot take his seat.

Sources suggested Mr Alexander would not be formally given Liberal endorsement unless and until he can prove he is not a dual citizen, and that the party is considering not holding a preselection but allowing the NSW state executive to use its rarely used power to directly appoint a candidate, and may have a back-up name in mind.

Mr Alexander, elected in 2010, is popular in Bennelong and, while the seat was previously held for one term by Labor’s Maxine McKew, his margin is a normally comfortable 10 per cent.

Bill Shorten told his senators yesterday “Labor is behind the eight ball” in Bennelong “but we are going to give it every effort because the nation deserves to have a choice about the direction in which the nation is headed”.

A walk around an Eastwood shopping centre with frontbencher Craig Laundy went generally well for Mr Alexander, with Mr Laundy doing most of the greeting and Mr Alexander looking patrician. “You have been very good,” Philippines-born Leticia Renn told Mr Alexander. “I hope you come back.”