Via The Guardian:
Bill Shorten has called on the government to set a stricter test for parliamentarians’ disclosures of foreign citizenship and to require them to produce details of their renunciation of foreign citizenship sooner, by 1 December.
After an inconclusive meeting between Malcolm Turnbull and Shorten over the government’s proposed disclosure framework, Shorten raised concerns over the suggested 21-day timeframe and warned a disclosure that asked MPs and senators about their “belief” regarding their citizenship was not a solution “worth the paper it’s written on”.
Turnbull emerged from the Melbourne meeting saying he and the opposition leader had reached an in-principle agreement on the need for disclosure and to give time for both houses to refer potentially ineligible MPs and senators to the high court before the end of the year.
Or, at The Australian:
Bill Shorten is defying a citizenship truce offer and refusing to release documents of at least three MPs under a cloud despite assurances Labor has nothing to fear about the widening crisis.
The ALP’s resistance comes as former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce called for a peace deal, suggesting the Opposition Leader and Malcolm Turnbull agree to hold several by-elections in February if more parliamentarians are found to be dual citizens.
The Prime Minister and Mr Shorten failed to finalise new citizenship-disclosure rules yesterday as the government intensified pressure on Labor’s Justine Keay and Susan Lamb, both of whom hold marginal seats.
The government has known about the MPs’ circumstances for months but is only now signalling it is prepared to challenge opposition members as more of its own parliamentarians, including Liberal backbencher John Alexander, face questions over their eligibility.
Meanwhile, via Sky:
The dual citizenship fiasco is deepening with more members of parliament being named as potentially in doubt, including key crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie.
Senator Lambie may have acquired United Kingdom citizenship by descent through her Scottish-born father, while Sydney Liberal MP Jason Falinski is facing questions he may be a Polish citizen by descent.
Mr Falinski told News Corp his father ‘was never Polish and was born in the former USSR’.
Senator Lambie insists her affairs are in order but it’s unclear whether she’s formally renounced potential citizenship by descent.
Wankers all.
