Australia’s Constitution is certainly not a ‘perfect’ document but there’s no doubt it’s served the country quite well over the past 123 years. It’s a testament to the people who drafted it, debated it and voted on it: people with a real vision for a brand new sovereign nation.
Part of that vision was that elected representatives in this democracy would be completely loyal and solely dedicated to the service of Australia. They could only be citizens of Australia—no dual citizenships. They also shouldn’t be bankrupt or profiting off the Commonwealth, thereby creating a conflict of interest. These provisions are contained in Section 44 of the Constitution, regarding eligibility to serve in Parliament.
It’s a historic fact these requirements have not always been met. The citizenship status of Australia’s third Prime Minister (and the first ever Labor MP to hold the office), Chris Watson, has always been dubious. It’s never been satisfactorily determined where the man was born, but it’s possible it was on a ship off the coast of Chile or in Chile itself way back in 1867. He had a German-Chilean father. His mother, who wasn’t Australian but Irish, raised him in New Zealand. He wouldn’t meet the requirements of Section 44 today but in 1904, when he became Prime Minister, detailed birth and citizenship records weren’t universal or simple to check.
Fast forward to 2017, when the so-called eligibility crisis exploded. Prominent representatives, including two ministers, were discovered to have not been eligible to sit in Parliament due to their citizenship status, including our very own Malcolm Roberts—a truly loyal Australian if there ever was one. Since then, political parties across the board have tightened up their checks on candidates to ensure it didn’t happen again—or so you’d think.
Western Australian senator Fatima Payman, who made headlines when she crossed the floor against her own Labor Party in June this year and then defected from Labor the next month, is the case in point. She was born in Afghanistan in 1995 to Afghan parents, who fled the country’s Taliban regime and entered Pakistan five years later. In 1999, her father traveled to Australia illegally by boat and spent a brief period in immigration detention. He brought the rest of his family to Australia in 2003.
Payman is again in the headlines for launching a new political party, ‘Australia’s Voice’. The name hasn’t won her any friends among the indigenous establishment that campaigned for the voice to Parliament, nor has the timing – only a few days before the anniversary of the referendum. There have always been questions about whether she had done enough to renounce her Afghanistan citizenship as required by the Constitution. When she was elected in 2022 (scraping in last on the party vote), Labor declared she’d taken the ‘reasonable steps’ determined by the High Court but since her defection, they’ve questioned it again.
So has Senator Pauline Hanson. Writing to the Prime Minister, she’s asked that the matter be thoroughly examined. Does the single failed effort to renounce citizenship constitute ‘reasonable steps’? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect those efforts to continue as conditions in the country of origin change so the matter can be put beyond doubt? We think the question, at least, needs a definitive answer.
And that’s because Payman doesn’t seem to speak for Australian voices, but for foreign voices. Her defection from Labor was precipitated by her crossing the floor over a motion on the conflict in the Middle East. She’s been a loud voice for Palestinians who support Hamas but not for Australians.
There are further steps to take if our weak Prime Minister won’t step up. Stay tuned!
