Coalition MP Ann Sudmalis has moved to quash doubts about her citizenship, issuing a statement late on Tuesday that she had been assured by the UK Home Office that she did not hold, and had never held, British citizenship.
As the citizenship crisis engulfing the Federal Parliament deepened, and just a day after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce announced he was a dual national of Australia and New Zealand, Ms Sudmalis – the member for Gilmore in NSW – was forced to urgently clarify her status with the British government.
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Highly unethical, dirty task: Bishop
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has blasted Bill Shorten for getting the New Zealand Labour Party to interfere in Australian politics over Barnaby Joyce's dual citizenship.
In turn the government turned its sights on Labor on Tuesday, demanding the opposition provide documentation for four of its MPs – Tony Zappia, Maria Vamvakinou, Justine Keay and Susan Lamb.
The government has also suggested Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese have questions to answer about their citizenship status.
The UK Home Office has confirmed that I do not hold, and I have never held British citizenship.
— Ann Sudmalis (@Ann_SudmalisMP) August 15, 2017
Ms Sudmalis was born in Australia in 1955, to an Australian father and a British mother. Her mother, Valerie Pybus, came to Australia in 1951 and did not become an Australian citizen – and renounce her British citizenship – until 1989.
Ms Sudmalis, elected to Federal Parliament in 2013, has never taken up British citizenship but nor has she renounced her entitlement to it.
According to the British Home Office guidelines on citizenship, a person is entitled to register for citizenship through their mother if they were born before January 1, 1983; they would have become a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if women had been able to pass on citizenship to their children in the same way as men at the time of their birth; and they have right of abode which they acquired because their mother was, at the time of their birth, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies.
A person must also be of good character in the view of the British Secretary of State.
Ms Sudmalis appears to have satisfied all of these criteria
Under section 44, part (i) of the constitution, a person is disqualified from standing for Parliament if they are "under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power".
Constitutional scholar George Williams told Fairfax Media that Ms Sudmalis – and others – could be caught by being entitled to UK citizenship, but that this was untested part of the law.
"No one is certain about how broad ranging the definition of entitlement might be," Professor Williams said. "If it means what it suggests, what we have seen so far for section 44 is really just the tip of the iceberg because it would cover anyone who might be eligible to apply for citizenship."
Labor manager of opposition business Tony Burke flagged on ABC radio on Tuesday morning that Ms Sudmalis may have an issue regarding her status.
"When Christopher Pyne yesterday in the Parliament started throwing accusations across the chamber, you could see sitting behind him in the camera shot the members for Gilmore [Ms Sudmalis] and the member for Chisholm [Julia Banks] and the colour draining away from their faces. I presume that the process [the vetting process Labor undertakes on candidates] that I've just described for the Labor Party are not processes that the Liberal Party, the National Party, the Greens or One Nation have," he said.
Ms Banks declared last month that she was in the clear and not a dual Greek-Australian citizen.
A spokeswoman for the British high commission said "we can't comment on individual cases, nor can we speculate on who may be entitled to British citizenship".
Ms Sudmalis declined to comment.