Are the Greens the only adults in the room?

Former Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam with Greens Leader Richard Di Natale, centre.

“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress,” wrote the great American writer Mark Twain. “But I repeat myself.” Seeing our parliamentary representatives’ response to the dual citizenship crisis, you might reflect on the ubiquity of Twain’s observation. That said, the Turnbull government deserves special acknowledgment for its total ineptitude in this affair.

“I have never had more fun in my life,” declared Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull shortly after the High Court’s judgment which confirmed the elections of Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Nationals Deputy Leader Fiona Nash contravened section 44 of the Constitution. What was meant to give the impression of an unflappable leader instead portrayed him as extraordinarily maladroit.

Turnbull has lost his political nous, and not just in his painfully obvious attempt at optimism. “The leader of the National party, the deputy prime minister, is qualified to sit in this house and the High Court will so hold,” announced the Prime Minister during question time in August, saying he was “very confident” of the impending decision.

This was inviting the wrath of the gods. At best it was empty rhetoric, at worst it was an arrogant incursion of the judiciary’s domain. For a Prime Minister — especially one with Turnbull’s legal background — such an assertion was unforgivably reckless. Even the cocky young barrister who in 1986 made his name in the Spycatcher case before the High Court knew the value of respectful reticence.

George Brandis says there is ‘absolutely no reason to believe’ any more Coalition members have foreign citizenship https://t.co/TvqkW4gzDP pic.twitter.com/WIV0wz5Nem

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 28, 2017

Joining Turnbull in this comedic double act was Attorney-General George Brandis QC, who only on Saturday rejected calls for a citizenship audit claiming he had “no reason whatever to believe” any other Coalition member held dual citizenship. Only days later The Australian revealed Senate President Stephen Parry had informed the government he believed he was a British citizen, which was confirmed yesterday. You might retort that we have no reason whatever to believe any of Brandis’s claims in this matter.

For a senior member of government to be this ill-informed is bad enough, but Brandis’s ‘nothing to see here’ attitude is an outright abrogation. As Attorney-General he has primary responsibility for ensuring the government complies with the Constitution. Likewise he is responsible for defending the integrity of the judiciary. For him to complain that the High Court’s interpretation of section 44 was “strict, almost brutal, literalism” was petulant.

It was also ironic given the Coalition’s traditional abhorrence of judicial adventurism. Speaking in 2012 on the decision to appoint former Queensland judge Patrick Keane to the High Court, the then Shadow Attorney-General was the stalwart defender of literalism. “He is very much a black letter lawyer,” said Brandis approvingly. “He has on occasions been quite critical in papers that he’s given on judicial activism, so I think that Justice Keane will take a very lawyerly and reasonably conservative approach to his work.”

As for Parry, the former undertaker may well have hammered the final nail into the Coalition coffin. His statement that the High Court judgment had given him “cause to examine my citizenship status in relation to my late father having been born in the United Kingdom” does not explain or excuse the delay in declaring his status. He would have been well aware of the ramifications as far back as August when Nash notified that she had acquired British citizenship by descent through her Scottish-born father.

Unfortunately, the Opposition has done little to hold the government to account in this respect, which gives rise to the perception of an unseemly bipartisanship. Like the government, it refuses to support calls for a parliamentary citizenship audit. “We have a strict vetting process,” said Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in August. “There is no cloud over any of our people.” Only days later an investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed ALP senator Katy Gallagher had potentially acquired Ecuadorean citizenship by descent as a consequence of her mother’s birthplace. Contrary to Shorten’s assurances, these vetting procedures were so ‘strict’ that they did not even involve getting legal advice as to that possibility prior to Gallagher’s appointment.

Does anyone seriously think the Opposition would refuse to back a citizenship audit if it did not have anything to hide, particularly given the government’s vulnerability? In August Labor MP Andrew Leigh rejected calls for parliamentarians to prove their citizenship status, ludicrously likening its proponents to the “right-wing extremists” of the Obama birther movement. Even in light of the Parry revelation Labor senator Louise Pratt said an audit was not necessary.

Sen Pratt won't commit to citizenship audit, says it's not necessary because Labor has done the right thing and vetted. #perthnews #auspol

— ABC Perth (@abcperth) October 31, 2017

Little over two weeks ago Labor senator Murray Watt insisted: “We don’t need to be investing that kind of energy” into an audit. This condescending attitude is not limited to Labor.

.@MurrayWatt says 'we don't need to be investing that kind of energy' into a citizenship audit. #pvonewsday on Sky News ch 601. pic.twitter.com/MwZspBJGLC

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 22, 2017

“If someone wants to make an allegation against a member of parliament, let them make it,” said Brandis following Parry’s declaration. “But in the absence of any allegation being made … I don’t favour some kind of witch-hunt.”

Is Brandis that out of touch with public opinion that he thinks politicians can be trusted to refer themselves to the High Court? This is what it has come to: compared to the Coalition and the Opposition, the Greens — yes the Greens — are one of the few adults in the room. Both Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters resigned from the Senate promptly and honourably when their dual citizenship became known, and Greens Leader Richard Di Natale has consistently pushed for an audit.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he’s never had more fun in his life. Photo: AAP Image

The sad fact for Turnbull is that the government had the chance to gain political capital by pursuing an audit in the face of Labor’s opposition. Granted, the government was always going to lose senators and MPs in the process, but it would have earned a reputation for honesty and transparency.

That time has passed, and the government’s denial that the dual citizenship issue warrants an audit is one of intransigence. Such a process is inevitable, and it will be seen as a capitulation to public opinion rather than a proactive governance measure. In the meantime, dual citizenship will remain a distraction and only confirm the perception that this government is a shambles. And the Australian people will so hold.

Suppose your name was Malcolm Turnbull, and suppose your leadership was malfunctioning and terminal. But I repeat myself.