Citizenship Rights !

Every resident who has the right - and the obligation by law - to vote in a Federal, State or council election thought they also had the right to stand to be elected to public office.  It was long thought that the only impediment was failure to hold legal citizenship in this country.  Newly arrived immigrants could not vote or stand for office until they gained official recognition as a citizen.  All those born within Australian borders were automatically granted that status.

To our consternation, we recently found that this is not so when it comes to  seats in the Federal parliament, and that is because of section 44 of the Australian Constitution.  When the Constitution was drafted 118 years ago it prevented " any person who is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of another power from running for office.  It also bans anyone  who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest with the Commonwealth from standing for office.

Recently eight members of the Federal parliament had their right to sit as elected representatives declared invalid because of section 44 and a further four had their standing questioned. The ruling opened a complex can of worms because in many cases the laws of other countries confer citizenship rights there by way of the tenure their parents - and in some cases grandparents- have passed automatically to their offspring.  Many had no idea that those citizenship rights in another country existed.

That interpretation of section 44 cost Australia millions of dollars to hold by-elections.  A lot of parliamentarians searched their ancestry and went to the trouble of renouncing any claims to foreign citizenship.  Some parliamentary members fell foul of that " pecuniary interest " clause because they leased their parliamentary office from a department in a government owned building.

The government setup an enquiry to examine ways to reform section 44 because clarity is essential.  When the Constitution was drafted the concept of dual citizenship was unknown and now it bars such people from parliament.  We are a nation of migrants and perhaps the only qualification necessary to legally contest and win a seat in Federal parliament should be the possession of a valid affirmation that such a person holds legal citizenship in Australia, either by birth or through the formal citizenship process.

To achieve that, we need to change the Constitution, and that involves a referendum.   That enquiry will soon present its findings and it is most likely that this will be their recommendation.  If that referendum intent gets the approval of the various political parties represented in the Federal parliament, there is no reason why it should not be decided in a tandem vote at the next Federal election.

It is important that this question be clarified by Australian law.  Some countries do not recognise the validity of citizen rights being renounced when their former citizens gain Australian citizenship and this can throw a legal doubt on parliamentary membership while ever section 44 remains unchanged.