The political citizenship saga continues with Independent Senator Nick Xenophon announcing his British “overseas” citizenship status.

The South Australian crossbench senator has confirmed with the British Home Office he holds citizenship and is thus not entitled under the Constitution to sit in the Senate.

Xenophon’s father, Theodoros Xenophou, came to Australia in 1951 on a British passport from the then-British territory of Cyprus, making him a “British overseas citizen”.

“The circumstances of this are bizarre and rare,” Mr Xenophon said.

“I never contemplated that I could have been a British colonial citizen, and that is why I didn’t go through an act of renunciation with the UK.”

Mr Xenophon said the UK Home Office advised him that his form of citizenship is ‘useless’ and gave him little rights in the UK.

“This bizarre category of third-class British citizenship has its use in effect of allowing historical British empire colonial subjects to travel and not much else; just one notch above being stateless.”

read more:

http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/08/19/nick-xenophon-citizen...

Federal Labor is refusing to release documents showing their members and senators meet the citizenship requirements outlined in the constitution.

As the citizenship crisis sweeps through Canberra, there is growing pressure on the Opposition to prove members who were born overseas or who have family links to other countries are not dual citizens.

The Federal Government has raised questions over the citizenship status of a number of Labor MPs, including Susan Lamb, Justine Keay, Maria Vamvakinou and Tony Zappia.

But despite repeated requests from the ABC, the party has refused to release any of the documentation those members are relying on to remain in Parliament.

The constitution prevents anyone with dual citizenship from holding office, and there are now seven politicians, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who will ask the High Court to decide whether they can remain in Parliament.

read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-21/labor-refuses-to-release-citizensh...

Fresh questions have been raised about the eligibility of federal Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis, following the discovery of an incoming passenger card from 1966, which she filled out when returning to Australia as a 10-year-old, listing her nationality as British.

Sudmalis has been under pressure to confirm her eligibility for parliament, given her mother, Valerie Pybus, was a British immigrant.

Last week Sudmalis issued a statement saying the British Home Office had confirmed that she had never held British citizenship, but she has declined to release any documents.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/21/liberal-mp-ann-su...

Matt Canavan and Malcolm Roberts change their stories in High Court citizenship hearing

Nationals senator Matt Canavan and One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts have changed their tune regarding key details of their citizenship status, as the High Court began hearings on the case that has rocked Federal Parliament and placed the future of seven MPs under a cloud.

Senator Canavan has conceded he has been an Italian citizen since he was 2 - when he previously blamed a 2006 application by his mother - while Senator Roberts appeared to admit that he had not filled in his British citizenship renunciation documents until after he was elected. 

Read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/citizenship-saga-w...

So, things look pretty grim for Joyce — but never fear, Barnaby, IndependentAustralia may have found your Great Escape! 

How? Well, you may recall a recent report in which Sydney barrister Robert Angyal SC argued that, under a strict interpretation, all Australians would be excluded from joining Parliament.

All Australians are eligible for the rights and privileges of New Zealand by way of automatic Australian Resident Visa. Therefore, asserted the Sydney silk, all Australian citizens would be at odds with section 44 of the Constitution, which prohibits anyone from entering Federal Parliament who is

'... entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power'.

A simple search of the New Zealand immigration website shows that it is, indeed, true that Australian citizens are automatically granted the right to live and work on arrival in New Zealand.

Quite the dilemma for the High Court, as it ponders whether to clean the riffraff out of Parliament House in October.

But wait a minute! A further search on the criteria for obtaining this automatic visa status shows that, in order to be granted this visa, Australian citizens must be of 'good character'.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-character...

South Australian senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore has announced she will resign from the Senate after she discovered she obtained British citizenship through her mother.

• The senator's mother was born in Singapore to British parents, but obtained the right to live in the UK later in life and transferred that citizenship to Skye when she was born
• Kakoschke-Moore says she previously sought advice about whether she was a dual citizen, but it was incorrect
• She sought clarification from the UK Home Office last Friday

The Nick Xenophon Team member's mother was born in Singapore in 1957 to British parents.

Her mother migrated to Australia with her family in 1970 and Skye was born in Darwin in 1985.

She said she had previously sought advice about whether she was a dual citizen, but it was incorrect.

"As a 12-year-old while I was living in Oman, my father made inquiries with the British embassy there to determine whether I was eligible for a British passport," she said.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-22/sky-kakoschke-moore-reveals-dual-c...

Before joining a political party, please check your ancestry at AncestryDNA.com. You might find that your cousin is also in parliament disguised as a monkey or a Neanderthal... Please pay attention to the small print of section 44....