Straya!

[Brian Peacock]

Send him and his pet sheep home.

[JimC]

I think it's a good chance to proclaim that NZ will from now on be the seventh state of Australia, and be done with it...

[Brian Peacock]

I'm having to work really hard to see the drama here. Mostly I'm having a big "Meh... " all over it. So what if a fairly elected political representative is an outlander?

[JimC]

I'm having to work really hard to see the drama here. Mostly I'm having a big "Meh... " all over it. So what if a fairly elected political representative is an outlander?

The government has a very narrow majority. If a High Court ruling means he has to resign (and he is deputy PM) then the government's hold on power is precarious, at least...

[Brian Peacock]

Oh, I get the slim majority thing - that's what makes this a story - but I'm very "Meh..." about why his birth hearth is an issue in the first place.

[JimC]

It is a fiendish plot by Kiwis to take over Oz by stealth! Bomb the cunts!

[Hermit]

I'm having to work really hard to see the drama here. Mostly I'm having a big "Meh... " all over it. So what if a fairly elected political representative is an outlander?

What makes the situation even more ridiculous is that none of them are even outlanders. They all have Australian citizenship. Two of them were actually born in Australia. One acquired dual citizenship because their overseas born mother applied for the second one on her child's behalf without informing him. The other got his automatically because his father was born in New Zealand.

[Brian Peacock]

Seems to me that a constitution which decrees that elected representatives must be a national (fiar point) and only ever and always a national, is a bit like saying that MPs can only be tap dancers with grade 9 sousaphone.

[pErvinalia]

I think it's a reasonable requirement. Politicians need to be above reproach.

[Brian Peacock]

And how does playing the sousaphone help with that, or having duel citizenship for that matter?

[pErvinalia]

Having dual citizenship increases the chance that a foreign power holds sway over you.

[Scot Dutchy]

Never noticed.

[Brian Peacock]

Having dual citizenship increases the chance that a foreign power holds sway over you.

Foreign powers can hold sway over anyone they can corrupt and/or influence, or anyone how is willing to be corrupted or influenced, regardless of nationality. I mean, just look at Trump and Russia (back of the net!). What you're implying is that someone has a questionable approach to probity on the basis of their antecedence, which sounds a bit, you know, 'Never trust a darkie' doesn't it?

[pErvinalia]

No, what I said is that it increases the chances. It doesn't mean every furriner is corrupted or similarly no Strayan can be corrupted.

[Hermit]

Yes, we have empirical evidence that members of parliament are more likely to be swayed by the interests of foreign countries. Take our very own Prime minister, for instance. The way Malcolm Turnbull promotes the interests of the coal mining giant Adani makes it certain that apart from holding Australian citizenship he also holds an Indian one.

Greens senator Larissa Waters, on the other hand, steadfastly opposes Adani's Carmichael coal mining project and the risks to the environment, particularly to the Great Barrier Reef, that come with it, because Canadian tourists demand an unspoilt landscape. Canadian tourists are of course a very powerful bunch of lobbyists, and it comes as no surprise that Waters other citizenship is Canadian!

Dual citizenship can also work subliminally. Until a couple of weeks ago Matt Canavan was unaware that his mother had applied for Italian citizenship on his behalf without his knowledge or consent when he was 25 years old, in January 2007. To his credit he immediately resigned from his role as cabinet minister - just in case, you know.