A Sydney barrister argues that Barnaby Joyce is technically not the only one who can't be MP. Photo / Getty
If you were to take Australian law to the letter, then there would not be a single Australian citizen qualified to serve in that country's Parliament.
Amid the dual citizenship scandal involving a number of Australian MPs, a Sydney barrister has claimed that, a section of the federal constitution could
arguably disqualify everyone from parliament... and New Zealand is to blame for that.
In a blog post on the Huffington Post, barrister Robert Angyal pointed out that section 44 of the Australian Constitution states that anyone "under any acknowledgement 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" would be disqualified from serving in federal parliament.
"Under recent and little-noticed changes to New Zealand law, Australian citizens now don't need a visa to live, study or work in the Land of the Long White Cloud. That's right: Any Australian citizen is entitled to live, study and work there," he said.
"That means we're all entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject of New Zealand - not a citizen, with the attached rights and privileges such as voting - but to be a subject of that country, living there, subject to New Zealand law, working or studying. And there's no doubt that New Zealand is a foreign power."
