With each day casting new shadows over the citizenship status of our parliamentarians, it looks as if the only way out of this farce is to hit the reset button. A double dissolution to elect a new parliament seems the only way to restore faith that our members and senators are abiding by Section 44 of the Constitution.
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The latest MP to be embroiled in this ongoing saga is our very own Member for Gilmore, Ann Sudmalis.
The first hint she was in trouble came on ABC radio on Tuesday morning when Labor frontbencher Tony Burke alluded to the blood draining from the faces of Mrs Sudmalis and Member for Chisholm Julia Banks when the issue was raised in parliament on Monday.
Mrs Sudmalis was born in Australia in 1955, to an Australian father and a British mother.
Her mother, Valerie Pybus, emigrated to Australia in 1951 and did not become an Australian citizen and renounce her UK citizenship until 1989.
The issue at stake is whether Mrs Sudmalis had UK citizenship automatically conferred upon her and whether, as required by the constitution, she renounced it.
There is one legal opinion that Section 44 might extend to being eligible for citizenship, even if that citizenship is not taken up.
Mrs Sudmalis joins a number of other MPs, including Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, whose right to sit in the parliament is under question.
His situation is particularly embarrassing because he took to task the Greens when they discovered two of their parliamentarians were ineligible for office because of their citizenship status.
Constitutional lawyer George Williams says the Section 44 issue might just be the tip of the iceberg. If that is the case, we are in for even more turmoil in Canberra.
With a one-seat majority, the government is teetering on the edge of oblivion. And as each day brings more doubts about citizenship, its ability to govern is severely compromised.
The accusations have been flung back at the Opposition, which says its process for vetting candidates is legally watertight. Yet it won’t produce the documents to prove it.
As the citizenship scandal dominates the headlines, effective government has been waylaid. The issue will only go away with a double dissolution.