Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to section 44(i) of the Constitution.

This constitutional crisis engulfing the government calls into question the very legitimacy of this parliament and strikes at the heart of the community's confidence in our democratic process. People right around the country are looking at this parliament and they think it's a joke. It has become a laughing-stock. They look at the response to the dual citizenship crisis, and they see politicians lying, back-pedalling and obfuscating; they don't see politicians standing up, coming clean and recognising that people in this place have a responsibility to the Australian community. We saw someone today do something which has been quite unique throughout this crisis: Jacqui Lambie stood up, copped it on the chin, recognised that there were questions around her eligibility and resigned. She did it quickly, didn't leave questions lingering, got legal advice, got confirmation from the relevant authorities and did the right thing, the honourable thing, the decent thing. She follows in the path of Senator Waters and Senator Ludlam who, when they were caught up in this crisis, also did the right thing and the honourable thing. They didn't seek to blame other people or to make excuses; they copped it on the chin, took responsibility for their actions and resigned.

There are a few things that I would like to say about the matter. The first thing is that no-one would question Jacqui Lambie's, Scott Ludlam's, Larissa Waters's or, indeed, Barnaby Joyce's or Fiona Nash's commitment to Australia. No-one would suggest that they have divided loyalties, and no-one would suggest that they are people who are somehow torn in their allegiance to this country. The reality is that section 44 was written for another era. It's a relic of the past. It's no longer fit for modern, multicultural Australia. This is a nation made up of people from right around the world, which is something we should be immensely proud of. Our Constitution was written at a time when there was a real concern about people having divided loyalties, but that is not the case anymore. When it comes to section 44 of the Constitution and the idea that a dual citizenship is the arbiter of somebody's allegiance to Australia, we know that we have a problem.

I think that people like Larissa Waters, Scott Ludlam, Jacqui Lambie, Barnaby Joyce and the others who have been caught up in this are Aussies and that they do express a deep commitment to Australia, and no-one would question that, which is why it's so important that we need to see reform of section 44 of our Constitution. We do need that reform to happen. We do need to commit to doing that. We do need to undergo a process. I was encouraged, it must be said, by the answer given by the Attorney-General who expressed a similar view and said that this was now under active consideration by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. That is a good thing. But let's also remember that, while it's there in our Constitution, it is all of our responsibility to uphold it.

The Constitution is our founding document. It's the foundation of our democracy. If we can't adhere to the Constitution then we shouldn't expect ordinary people to follow the rules that we set for them. The reality is that we can't have two standards: one for people inside this building and another one for people outside this building. That is why the response from the Prime Minister on this issue has been appalling. He initially instructed the High Court that they would adhere to his interpretation of the Constitution and then set a completely different standard for his ministers—one stood aside, yet Barnaby Joyce continued in his role. We saw the former President of the Senate sit on information after confiding in government ministers for weeks, and we have now seen the spectacle of John Alexander resigning as a result of his dual citizenship status.

The reality is that we need an audit. We need to put this mess behind us. We need to restore faith in our democracy, because right now people right around the country are looking at this parliament and saying, 'You are a joke.'

Question agreed to.