Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan was probably happy to be in north west Queensland this week opening infrastructure ahead of what promises to be a testing time in Canberra.
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Senator Cavanan was in Mount Isa on Monday to help Mount Isa City Council open its $5m sewerage treatment plant but he could have been forgiven if his mind was on other matters.
The then Minister for Northern Australia resigned from Cabinet last month after revealing his mother had signed him up for Italian citizenship without his knowledge in 2006, potentially making him a dual citizen and not eligible to stand for federal parliament.
However unlike the two earlier Green senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, Senator Canavan did not resign from parliament and instead had his matter referred to the High Court by the government.
Speaking on Monday to the North West Star, Senator Canavan said the High Court would meet this Thursday for a directions hearing.
“We’ll know more after that, it’s a matter for the court to decide,” Senator Canavan said.
“Obviously when I found this out, I looked at the law and certainly the law is not black and white so it is worthwhile it being tested.”
Senator Canavan said since his situation arose others in parliament (including deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce) have also run into the same problem with Section 44 of the constitution.
“These are different cases but the court may decide to coordinate them given the points of law are the same,” he said.
Senator Canavan stands by the original advice he got which was to resign from the ministry but not from parliament.
“I could have certainly sat on the ministry, but the advice we had was immature, you could say, and I wanted to go public as soon as I could,” he said.
“Since that time the advice has become stronger and the prime minister said we are very confident the court will find none of us are in breach of the constitution.”
Senator Canavan echoed Senator George Brandis’s hope the matter could be resolved by early October.
The Senator would not be drawn on whether the constitution needed to change.
“It is what it is, obviously I don’t think I’ve been in breach of the section,” he said. “We’ve all learned more about European citizenship laws which are very different from ours, so we’ll see what the court says.”
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
