Labor ran foul of section 44 in 1992 Sykes v Cleary in 1992. The case disqualified Independent MP for Wills Phil Cleary for holding an “office of profit under the Crown” by Section 44(iv) of the Constitution. This is another archaic part of Section 44, but I won’t delve into its difficulties here.

The Sykes v Cleary judgement also examined the citizenship status of Cleary’s election opponents. The Liberal candidate was born in Switzerland, was a naturalised Australian citizen, but still had Swiss citizenship. The Labor candidate was Greek born and caught in the same trap, a naturalised Australian but still possessing Greek citizenship.

The majority of the High Court ruled that both were disqualified as they had not attempted to rid themselves of their foreign citizenship.

At that point it put procedures in place to ensure that it's candidates would be covered. It appears that the coalition failed to learn this lesson. Hence is in the current crisis.

Giggle .......lol......ROTFLOL

Armchair_Politician wrote on Aug 18^th, 2017 at 8:11am:


Read above

Armchair_Politician wrote on Aug 18^th, 2017 at 8:11am:


The ALP check their candidates so it is unlikely they are effected by this.

It's time we had an election.

Surely the one laughing the loudest is Ms Hanson. Who remembers this:

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is not welcome in Australian politics.

Ms Hanson, a populist firebrand who champions an anti-immigration agenda, is standing for a Senate seat in Queensland.

"Pauline Hanson is not a welcome presence on the Australian political scene - remember she was chucked out of the Liberal party," the prime minister told reporters in Sydney today.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/05/31/15/09/pauline-hanson-not-welcome-in-...

We now find we have people collecting the Queen's shilling but they are not entitled to do so. I wonder if boy wonder Turnbull is disturbed by fraudsters in parliament.