One Nation senator-elect Heather Hill should not find herself in her present predicament. She was born in England. She took out Australian citizenship, yet still there is doubt about whether she satisfies the eligibility provisions to take her seat in the Senate.
Some people may well be rubbing their hands at One Nation’s discomfiture, but this is a matter of principle that should transcend the party affiliation of the people elected.
It should not be beyond the wit of legislators (if necessary with a tidying referendum at the time of the next referendum if constitutional change is needed) to devise simple eligibility criteria for membership of the Australian Parliament. The criteria should be Australian citizenship, adulthood and not serving a term of imprisonment.
At present the position is confused and in need of change. The Constitution rightly makes those imprisoned ineligible. But it unnecessarily adds insolvency, holding an office of profit under the Crown and having a pecuniary interest with the Commonwealth. These days taking profit from the Crown as a teacher, military officer or contractor should not disqualify a person. Nor should insolvency.
The Constitution also has an disqualification for anyone who is “”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.”
The rule is absurd. Some people who have become Australian citizens through no fault of their own are subjected to other countries’ rules about allegiance.
We should incorporate a general renunciation of foreign allegiance in the citizenship ceremony in a way that satisfies the Constitution or change the Constitution, so that there can be no challenge to Australian citizens holding seats in the Australian Parliament.