Bill Shorten caught out on citizenship following Katy Gallagher High Court decision

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: Kym Smith

Bill Shorten has bowed to the inevitable and allowed three Labor MPs to resign and face by-elections.

Independent Rebekha Sharkie was the first to resign after the High Court reconfirmed its rulings on dual citizenship and dumped Labor’s Katy Gallagher from the Senate.

After months of dissembling on the eligibility of all Labor senators and MPs the Opposition Leader has finally grasped the essential truth of the High Court’s rulings.

Despite assurances about the strength of Labor’s vetting processes over dual citizens and denials there was a problem, Shorten today lost a Senator and three MPs over facts which have been apparent since October last year.

Instead of accepting the clear facts and allowing his MPs to follow Coalition MPs’ examples and resign Shorten clung on, denied the truth and threatened pay back against other Coalition MPs.

He even baulked at any release of MPs’ papers, including his own, although Labor pursued Coalition MPs.

For too long Shorten has delayed action on his own MPs while exploiting faults with Coalition MPs as he tried to erase the Governemnt’s one-seat majority.

Today the Government has moved swiftly to maximise the pressure on Shorten over the ineligibility of his three MPs to sit in Parliament and turn into a “test of character” for the Labor leader.

Shorten has been caught short on the citizenship crisis clearly and continually.

His claims that there were no problems with any Labor members were false, his delays over the by-election in Melbourne were wrong and his continued deferrals of action were unacceptable.

Also, Shorten’s depiction of the High Court’s decision this morning as a new precedent or a change in the law is risible.

The High Court has only confirmed its earlier decisions and even clarified the earlier judgments further which demonstrated the untenable position of the Labor MPs.