So in the past week something remarkable happened in Australian politics that left a lot of us scratching our heads. Two Greens Senators, Co-Deputy Leaders Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, resigned from their positions after they both committed a major sin in the Australian parliament.
No, it wasn't using taxpayer dollars on helicopter trips. No, it wasn't a taxpayer-funded trip up to the Gold Coast involving a secret investment property purchase. And no, it definitely wasn't a shady sex scandal.
Dial up the outrage radar, people, because these senators committed the unforgivable sin of (wait for it)…holding dual citizenship. Insert dramatic oh-no-they-didn't music here. And maybe a meme of someone screaming in terror too.
Ludlam, who was born in New Zealand and settled in Australia before his ninth birthday, and Waters, who immigrated from Canada to Australia at the tender age of 11 months old, have broken a rule that has no relevance for the average Australian.
Under Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, a parliamentarian is ineligible to hold office in the Federal Parliament if they are "under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power".
OK, OK, it's a rule from the Constitution that dates back to 1901, a time when newfound nationalism and fears of international forces infiltrating were at play. Rules are rules, right? It's the Constitution!
Sure, the law is the law. Ludlam and Waters should've known the rules of the game before entering it. But it's hard to believe either of them would've been spinning in their chairs and having a Dr Evil laugh over the fact they've secretly got another passport stashed in the safe at home. Waters hasn't even set foot on Canadian soil since she arrived in Australia.
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But let's consider something for a second. Australia is a much more multicultural place than it was when the Constitution first came into effect. Back in 1911, when the first national Census was held, 17.10 percent of Australians were born overseas (majority of them in England). That would've been 761,600 people of the population of 4.48 million.
In the recent 2016 Census results released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the proportion of Australians born overseas hit an all-time high of more than 28 percent. That's about 6.8 million people out of the 24.5 million population we currently have.
That means 6.8 million of us would have to renounce our citizenship to another country in order to hold public office like Ludlam and Waters were able to.
Of all the things to lose your job over, dual citizenship seems like a strange one. Imagine serving an employer for nine years (as Ludlam did) or six years (as Waters had), with a list of notable achievements to your name such as addressing the UN ahead of a global nuclear weapons vote, helping to stop dredge spoil being dumped on the Great Barrier Reef and overturning cuts to domestic violence services, only to be forced to resign because of a technicality found in a contract?
Yes, the checks should've been made when they were running to be elected to the Senate. And it's certainly going to make a lot of future politicians dot their I's and cross their T's from now on. Or keep on hiding their dual citizenships and hope we won't notice.
There are at least 24 foreign-born federal MPs and senators, some of whom have since come forward to confirm they have renounced their citizenship to their birth countries, including Labor senator Sam Dastyari (Iran), Finance Minister Mathias Cormann (Belgium) and Greens senator Nick McKim (UK).
The only way the Constitution could be changed is by a referendum, which wouldn't exactly be an easy task. Only eight of the 44 referendums held in Australian history have been passed. And it's not like politicians' dual citizenship rights is the most pressing issue our country would be burning to have referendum about.
But you've got to wonder how relevant all of this is to the average Australian who just wants politicians who are committed to their constituents to do a good job.
Top Comments
I'm sad for the two green senators because it was very much at the more innocent albeit careless end of the spectrum but the principle is important. People representing Australian voters should never have a conflict of interest over which country comes first. Ultimately their loyalty needs to be to the country and it's citizens first and foremost.
Citizenship is only a part of the issue. I'm still fuming over the influence and access both the labor and liberal parties were giving to non citizen Chinese billionaires. Sam Dastiyari even described one as a constituent! Ironically he went to considerable effort and expense to make sure his citizenship status was correct and he had no link to China other than his willingness to let rich people from there shape his opinion on Australian foreign policy.
Personally I think this is a storm in a teacup and highlights administration issues with the greens in particular. I've listened to many people call up on talkback radio discussing this and what they're all saying generally is that they're not Australian citizens because they hold a dual citizenship! It just means they have 2 and in both cases the senators involved both held other citizenships from other commonwealth countries so I don't really see a big issue. In this modern age, it's very common and the constitution was written in a very different period that did not reflect this. It needs to be changed although other issues need to get addressed first. They've been here since they were children, they've served this country well
I wonder if the 'storm in the tea-cup' excuse would be used if the two Senators were not from the Greens Party? Canada and New Zealand are pretty innocuous countries, but there are quite a few members of the Commonwealth who are not.