DEPUTY Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has made the shocking announcement that he will refer his own eligibility to sit in Parliament to the High Court over dual citizenship.
Independent Australian senator Derryn Hinch will become the eighth member of parliament to be referred to the High Court over their eligibility.
The New Zealand-born senator, who holds a US social security card from his time living in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, could face problems under section44 of the constitution which disqualifies from parliament anyone who is "entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power".
He told reporters in Cairns on Thursday he would ask the Senate next week to refer him to the court, but had received advice he should be in the clear.
"I plan to raise the issue with the Solicitor-General and, if necessary, will refer myself to the High Court acting as the Court of Disputed Returns," he told the Herald Sun on Wednesday.
"I did write to the US Social Security Department instructing them not to pay that pension because I was now a senator."
Another five members of parliament, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, face a High Court test in October of their eligibility to serve as MPs.
An additional two MPs, including cabinet minister Fiona Nash, are set to be referred to the court by parliament next week.
