New Citizenship Disclosure Rules for Australian Politicians

We’ve been following the story of Australia’s dual citizenship crisis since this summer: Elected officials have been forced to resign after it came to light that they were dual nationals. That’s because Australia’s constitution disqualifies from federal public office anyone who is “a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power.”

Late last month, Australia’s High Court unanimously decided that the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and four senators were ineligible for office because they held dual citizenship.

In the wake of that decision, Australia’s prime minister has announced new rules to address this issue. As the BBC reports,

politicians will be obliged to make a formal declaration about their citizenship status, as well as provide details about the time and place of their birth, and the time and place of birth of their parents.

If the politicians had citizenship of another country they will also be required to detail when and how they renounced it.

Current politicians will have 21 days to make the declaration, while future members of parliament will be required to make the declaration when they are elected.

Those rules won’t capture an individual like Australia’s Matt Canavan, whose mother registered him for Italian citizenship without his knowledge.

I’m left ruminating over the same questions that I voiced in August: What does it mean to be a citizen when you’re wholly unaware of your citizenship? (Nearly all of the politicians in Australia argued that they had no idea they held citizenship anywhere other than Australia.) And what are the risks (real or imagined) when dual citizens enter public service?

-KitJ