Sudden resignations by Senators

The resignation of two Senators – a male and a female - in the Federal Parliament within a week has been the talking point in Australian media in the past few days. Why did they resign? They were dual citizens who failed to relinquish their citizenship of the second country before seeking nomination at the general election. The moment they realised they have violated the constitution, they quit.

Section 44 of the Constitution disqualifies potential candidates from election to the Parliament of Australia if they hold dual or plural citizenship.

Both Senators are high-ups in the Australian green political party – ‘The Australian Greens’ commonly known as ‘The Greens’. The male, Scott Ludlam is the Deputy Greens Leader and the female, Larissa Waters is the Co-Deputy Leader.

British-born former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Singaporean-born Liberal MP Ian Goodenough are said to be the only two overseas-born MPs to have released their citizenship renunciation documentation publicly.

Taking responsibility and apologising unreservedly to the voters for the “ridiculous oversight”, Scott Ludlam said he will not fight to stay in Parliament. 

One of the Greens’ most prominent Senators after first being elected at the 2007 federal election, the West Australian Senator admitted that he had failed to renounce his New Zealand citizenship. 

“This is my error, something I should have checked when I first nominated for pre-selection in 2006,” he said. He claimed he left New Zealand as a three-year old and never really considered it home. 

Saying that he would not fight to stay on, he added: “I could have dug my heels in. But it creates a protracted dispute. That section of the constitution is crystal clear and it has been tested before by others….This probably a cleaner way to just make a break.”

It was the finding by a barrister with a keen interest in the Constitution that led to the resignation of Scott Ludlam. The informant, a social justice advocate, said he was not politically motivated when he applied a couple of weeks back to the NZ Department of Internal Affairs to search its register of citizens. He was checking about two Senators and the second had renounced his NZ citizenship before the last election. “I did this as a citizen, not as a lawyer, with a keen interest in the Constitution’, the informant John Cameron said.

Whether Scott Ludlam would have to pay back his earnings from Parliament in the form of salary and allowances is yet to be decided. It is estimated to be in the region of $1.6 million. “My assets amount to a fast computer and nice shoes,” was his comment when asked about repayment.

Larissa Waters, born in Canada, resigned when she realised she had not renounced her dual citizenship. In a statement, she said she had not visited Canada since leaving as a baby and believed she had naturalised to Australia. She sought legal advice after Ludlam episode. 

“I was devastated to learn that I was not entitled to be a Senator because of 70-year-old Canadian laws I had been a dual citizen from birth, and that Canadian law changed a week after I was born and required me to have actively renounced Canadian citizenship,” she said.

“It is with a heavy heart that I am forced to resign as Senator for Queensland and co-deputy leader of the Australian Greens,” she said.

A Senator since 2011, she was in the news recently when she became the first politician to breastfeed a baby in the Federal Parliament. She breastfed her new baby daughter in the Senate Chamber twice. On the second occasion she breastfed while moving a motion. 

Today, the Greens not only speak for the environment but also on behalf of people who are disadvantaged in Australian society: children, refugees, students, people with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and individuals and families living in poverty.

The Australian Greens has nine Federal Senators (now reduced to seven), one Federal MP, 23 State MPs, and more than 100 Greens Councillors including Green Mayors.

The party was formed in 1992 mainly to speak for the environment but has gradually expanded their horizon and today cites four value values: Ecological sustainability, Social justice, Grassroots democracy and Peace and non-violence. The party counts over 15,000 members.