Dear God:
The One Nation Queensland candidate who stands to replace Malcolm Roberts in the Senate if the high court rules Roberts ineligible on citizenship grounds, could himself be ruled ineligible to sit in parliament. This could potentially open the way for Pauline Hanson to replace Malcolm Roberts with Malcolm Roberts.
Bankruptcy proceedings were filed against the One Nation candidate William Fraser Anning and Fiona Ruth Anning by ABL Nominees in the federal circuit court, with court documents obtained by Guardian Australia claiming that the subsidiary of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is saying it is owed $239,393.49.
…If the court finds Anning to to be bankrupt, he becomes ineligible for parliament under section 44, which restricts anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent from sitting.
If Roberts’ election is found to have been invalid, Anning, as the next candidate on the 2016 ticket, who received 19 above-the-line votes in 2016, stands to take his place. If he has been found to be bankrupt, the court would need to look at when he became insolvent.
If it was before the election, then he would also be deemed ineligible, and the count would move to the number four candidate, Judy Smith, Pauline Hanson’s sister, who won 47 first preference votes.
But if any insolvency was found to have occurred after Anning nominated, then a casual vacancy would be created, which would allow One Nation to put anyone it likes forward – including Roberts – to become the party’s second Queensland senator.
Meritocracy at work.
