Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday said that he will introduce a new law that will require parliamentarians to declare they are not a citizen of another country.
“The obligation is on each member and each senator to make a full disclosure,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
Last week, Australian senate president Stephen Parry resigned after confirming that he was a British dual citizen due to his UK-born father. He was the eighth lawmaker to be caught up in the citizenship fiasco.
Lately Australia has been reeling with dual citizenship revelations since July and lawmakers have called for a nationality audit of all parliamentarians.
NAN reports that the government plans to put the proposal, which has already been rejected by the minority Greens party, to both houses of parliament in Canberra later this month.
If the measure is approved, the lawmakers will have 21 days to provide to the parliament’s registrar a citizenship declaration, as well as provide the birthplace of their parents.
If they had been a dual citizen, the lawmakers will need to provide details and evidence of having renounced their foreign citizenship.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said Monday voluntary disclosure would not work and insisted he will press for a parliamentary committee to forensically scrutinise all MPs based on advice from experts.
Australia’s constitution states that citizens of foreign countries cannot hold political office.
According to last year’s census, 49 per cent of Australians are either born abroad or have one or both parents who were born abroad. The survey also showed 27 per cent of Australians were born overseas.
Last week, the Australian High Court found five parliamentarians were illegally elected last year, including the country’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, whose ineligibility has put the coalition government’s one-seat majority in the Lower House under threat.
Posted by Juliet Ekwebelam
