Shorten can’t rule out High Court dual-citizenship referrals

Bill Shorten says he can’t rule out Labor MPs being referred to the High Court, as the fiasco spreads to ACT politics.

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten at the NAWMA renewable energy facility in Adelaide. Picture: AAP.

Bill Shorten says he cannot rule out Labor MPs being referred to the High Court for dual citizenship problems, as the fiasco plaguing federal parliament spreads to ACT politics.

Senators have until close of business tomorrow to disclose any foreign citizenship and evidence of the steps they took to renounce, while lower house members have until Tuesday to get their paperwork in.

The Opposition Leader said Labor had done its homework and its standards were “demonstrably superior” to parties like the Nationals, which lost former deputy leader Fiona Nash to the saga and has former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce fighting a by-election in New England because he was a New Zealander.

Unlike his previous statements, Mr Shorten could not guarantee any of his MPs would not be caught in the crisis and sent to the court.

“I’m not ruling it out because that would be premature without seeing all the disclosures,” Mr Shorten said.

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP.

“We pushed for proper disclosure. Where that leads us, we will have to see next week but I do say to (Malcolm) Turnbull, don’t unreasonably delay any referrals because you are waiting for Barnaby Joyce to come back to parliament and try and use your numbers to just fit up the Labor Party when you’ve got a lot more to hide on your side.”

The Turnbull government has said it will use its numbers in the House of Representatives to refer Labor MPs like Justine Keay, who was still a British citizen when she nominated for the 2016 election despite taking steps to renounce.

An ACT legislative assembly parliamentary committee will also investigate whether Labor senator Katy Gallagher was erroneously chosen to enter the Senate.

After pressure from the ACT Liberals, the parliament’s Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure will examine whether “previous appointments made by the assembly might be considered in hindsight to be unsound”.

Senator Gallagher conceded in September she only took “all reasonable steps” to renounce any entitlement to British citizenship ahead of the 2016 election, but not before she was first chosen by the legislative assembly to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate in March 2015.

Senator Katy Gallagher. Picture: Gary Ramage.

The ACT senator’s parents were British citizens, while her mother was also born in Ecuador. Senator Gallagher has not said whether they ever renounced their British citizenship but believed she was not British, based on advice from the high commission.

Liberal ACT MP and deputy speaker Vicki Dunne said the committee investigation, which will also consider if the assembly needs to adopt new practices, was an opportunity to “set the record straight and to protect the integrity” of the parliament’s procedures.

“The Governor-General’s appointment of Senator Gallagher to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate was based on erroneous information provided to him in good faith by the ACT legislative assembly,” she said.

“Senator Gallagher’s statutory declaration confirming she was not a foreign citizen may have been misleading. As I said in the assembly, I do not believe that these errors were deliberate, but they were wrong. Senator Gallagher could have corrected the record at a later date. Quite simply, questions need to be answered.”

The committee will report by the last sitting day in March 2018.

Senator Gallagher, a former ACT chief minister, declined to comment.