You’ve got to go, QCs told Larissa Waters

It took an e-mail from her father and two QCs to verify that Larissa Waters was ineligible to sit in parliament.

It took an inquiring e-mail from her father and the legal expertise of two QCs to verify that Larissa Waters was ineligible to sit in the Australian parliament, leading to her decision on Monday to quit as a Greens Senator for Queensland.

Ms Waters yesterday sought to reassure voters she had not previously been aware of her dual Canadian citizenship until it was raised with her following the shock resignation of her party colleague, Scott Ludlam, for the very same constitutional breach.

Under section 44 of the constitution, Australians are prevented from representing their fellow citizens in federal parliament if they are deemed to be “entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power.”

Mr Ludlam announced his departure as a Greens senator for Western Australia on Friday after he discovered he was a dual citizen of both Australia and New Zealand despite having already served 10 years in the Senate.

While Mr Ludlam is fighting suggestions he must have been aware of his New Zealand citizenship due to a 2014 “change.org” petition asking him to explain himself, Ms Waters issued a statement yesterday making clear she did not know until the weekend.

“We had many correspondents raise all sorts of conspiracy theories with my office regularly on Twitter or by email, including one or two asking about citizenship, usually with reference to Tony ­Abbott,” Ms Waters said.

“It was only after Scott’s announcement and an email from my father asking if I was OK with Canada that I took immediate action to check, as my folks had never expressed any doubt before as we all thought that I had met the test to not be a Canadian citizen. It took two QCs all weekend looking through 4 iterations of Canadian law to give me an answer.”

The Australian yesterday approached Mr Ludlam’s office asking if he was aware of the change.org petition which had raised — at least three years ago — the legal complication caused by his New Zealand citizenship. A spokesman for Mr Ludlam said the former WA senator was unaware of the petition.