Pauline Hanson will reportedly ask the Senate to refer rebel One Nation senator Fraser Anning to the high court over a dropped bankruptcy case that may bring his eligibility into question.
On Monday the Australian reported that Hanson would write to Scott Ryan questioning Anning’s eligibility, a bid to retain control of One Nation’s fourth Senate seat which Anning has dismissed as “frivolous”.
Anning won the Queensland Senate seat previously held by Malcolm Roberts in a recount after Roberts was found to be a dual British citizen. He separated from One Nation on the day of his swearing-in, and has since been courted by the Nationals and Bob Katter.
The constitution
<p>Section 44 (i) of Australia's constitution bars "citizens of a foreign power" from serving in parliament, including dual citizens, or those entitled to dual citizenship. But the provision was very rarely raised until July 2017, when the Greens senator Scott Ludlam <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/14/scott-ludlam-resigns-from-australian-senate-after-finding-out-he-has-new-zealand-citizenship">suddenly announced he was quitting parliament</a> after discovering he had New Zealand citizenship.</p><p>That sparked a succession of cases, beginning with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/18/larissa-waters-quits-greens-senator-dual-citizenship-with-canada">Ludlam’s colleague Larissa Waters</a>, as MPs and senators realised their birthplace or the sometimes obscure implications of their parents’ citizenship could put them in breach. Unlike Ludlam and Waters, most of those whose dual citizenship was called into question did not immediately quit. </p>
The Citizenship Seven
<p>By October, seven cases had been referred by parliament to the high court, which has the final say on eligibility. They were Ludlam and Waters; the National party leader <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/14/australias-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-revealed-to-be-a-new-zealander">Barnaby Joyce</a>, deputy leader <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/17/nationals-deputy-fiona-nash-referred-to-high-court-over-citizenship">Fiona Nash</a> and minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/26/matthew-canavans-dual-citizen-account-questioned-by-italian-immigration-experts">Matt Canavan</a>; One Nation’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/21/malcolm-roberts-citizenship-court-one-nation-brisbane">Malcolm Roberts</a>; and independent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/19/nick-xenophon-will-go-to-high-court-after-finding-out-he-holds-dual-citizenship">Nick Xenophon</a>. </p><p>The court <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/27/high-court-rules-barnaby-joyce-and-four-others-ineligible-in-dual-citizenship-case">found that five of the seven had been ineligible to stand for parliament</a>, exonerating only Canavan and Xenophon. That meant the senators involved had to be replaced by the next candidate on the ballot at the 2016 federal election, while the sole lower house MP – Joyce – would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/04/he-speaks-for-us-why-tamworth-is-oozing-sympathy-for-barnaby-joyce">face a byelection</a> on 2 December in his New South Wales seat of New England. Joyce, who has renounced his New Zealand citizenship, is standing again.</p>
Further cases
<p>After the court ruling the president of the Senate (equivalent to the Speaker in the lower house), the Liberal Stephen Parry, also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/31/senate-president-stephen-parry-says-he-may-hold-dual-citizenship">resigned on dual citizenship grounds</a>. The shaky majority of the governing Liberal/National coalition was further threatened when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/11/citizenship-crisis-john-alexander-resigns-and-triggers-byelection">MP John Alexander quit</a>, triggering a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/19/kristina-keneally-says-bennelong-byelection-a-referendum-on-turnbull-government">byelection on 16 December in his Sydney seat of Bennelong</a>. The independent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/14/jacqui-lambie-to-quit-senate-owing-to-dual-citizenship">Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie</a> became the next casualty. David Feeney and Katy Gallagher <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/22/skye-kakoschke-moore-nxt-senator-resigns-over-dual-citizenship">NXT senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore</a> soon followed. </p><p><br></p>
The implications
<p>The loss of the two lower house MPs <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/20/government-accused-avoiding-revolt-parliamentary-sitting-week-cancelled">cost the government its majority</a>, pending the outcome of the byelections. The government has agreed with Labor that all MPs and senators must now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/13/one-nation-boilover-citizenship-deal-and-new-senate-president-share-roiling-day-in-politics">make a formal declaration of their eligibility</a>, disclose foreign citizenship and steps to renounce it. But the constitution cannot be changed without a referendum, which have a poor record of success. More likely, future representatives will have to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/28/high-courts-citizenship-message-is-clear-you-have-been-warned">abide by the strict interpretation of the high court</a>.<br></p>
Hanson’s letter to Ryan reportedly suggests Anning may not be eligible to sit in the Senate because he was an “undischarged bankrupt or insolvent” or had benefited from “any law relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors”.
Before his selection, Anning and his wife Fiona Ruth Anning were the subject of bankruptcy proceedings in the federal circuit court filed by a Bendigo and Adelaide Bank subsidiary, ABL Nominees, which claimed they owed $239,393.49.
On 3 October the petition was dropped after a confidential settlement which cleared the way for Anning to enter the Senate.
Hanson acknowledges in her letter that Anning avoided bankruptcy but challenges the legitimacy of the settlement, questioning whether he was able to settle only when it became apparent he could replace Roberts in the Senate and be paid a salary of $200,000.
Anning has responded that he has never been bankrupt or insolvent and therefore cannot be disqualified. Any reference to the high court would be “frivolous”, he said.
“I was the subject of a bankruptcy application by ABL Nominees. After negotiations, ABL Nominees withdrew their application.
“Specific details of the settlement are confidential and will not be released or discussed.”
A reference from the Senate would require majority support, meaning one or both of the major parties would have to support Hanson’s push. If Anning were found ineligible, Hanson’s sister Judy Smith would be his likely replacement in the Senate, bringing One Nation’s seat count back up to four.
Rosalind Dixon, a constitutional law expert at the University of New South Wales, told the Australian the 1987 Nile v Wood case suggested Anning was not an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent because he was not found to be so by the court.
