Summer stalemate on citizenship court referrals

The dual citizenship saga will continue to plague politics for months to come.

Malcolm Turnbull in parliament yesterday. Picture: AAP

A stalemate over referring to the High Court more MPs caught-up in the widening citizenship crisis will plague federal politics over the summer break, as Malcolm Turnbull sharpened his attack against Labor MP Susan Lamb, declaring that she was a British citizen and should not be sitting in parliament.

The Prime Minister failed on the final sitting day of the year to convince the five crossbench MPs to send three Labor members to the High Court after the Coalition refused to agree to opposition and crossbench demands and refer any of its own.

The government has already sent three MPs to the court, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, and Liberal backbencher John Alexander last month quit parliament to contest a by-election following dual citizenship concerns.

Coalition tactics this week have infuriated Nick Xenophon Team MP Rebekha Sharkie, who is under a citizenship cloud.

The South Australian MP said she was finding it “more and more difficult every day” to back the government on key issues of confidence and supply and would not guarantee her support for the rest of the parliamentary term.

Ms Sharkie is one of four MPs the government believes should be sent to the High Court, along with Labor’s Justine Keay, Josh Wilson and Ms Lamb, who were British citizens when they nominated for the 2016 election despite steps to renounce.

Mr Turnbull seized on legal advice in Ms Lamb’s citizenship disclosure form that asserts she was a British citizen through her Scottish-born father. The member for the marginal Queensland seat of Longman has conceded her renunciation could not be completed because the British government was not satisfied she was British, based on supplied documents.

“The Leader of the Opposition has to take responsibility now for the member for Longman who remains a UK citizen. She is a UK citizen today,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Her declaration makes it clear that her attempts to renounce her British citizenship were unsuccessful and so she is in the same position as (former One Nation) senator Malcolm Roberts.

“She has declared she’s a UK citizen. She should not be sitting in the parliament.”

Ms Lamb fired back, saying Mr Turnbull “actually voted against referring me to the High Court” on Wednesday when he rejected Labor’s motion that would have referred nine MPs including the opposition members and David Feeney — who has referred himself — Ms Sharkie and Liberal MPs Julia Banks, Alex Hawke, Nola Marino and Jason Falinski.

“This guy is a fraud,” she said.

The government has insisted there are no questions over any of its 75 members, although constitutional lawyers disagree.

The referral of ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher, who did not cease being British until after nominations closed despite also taking steps to renounce her foreign citizenship, will now act as a test case. Constitutional lawyers point out that the steps she took to renounce and the reasonableness and timeliness in which she made them differs to her lower house Labor colleagues.

Ms Sharkie said she would ­approach issues of confidence and supply “day-by-day” while working with the government “in good faith”.

“I have said I will support supply and I don’t want to be seen as a wrecker, but I think the government’s doing a very good job of wrecking the parliament themselves,” she told Sky News.

The High Court will today give directions as to the hearing and determination on the eligibility of former Liberal senate president Stephen Parry and former crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie and Skye Kakoschke-Moore, some of the most recent parliamentarians caught in the citizenship fiasco.