Federal cabinet minister and Liberal Party powerbroker Arthur Sinodinos could be a dual Greek citizen.
The Liberal senator is refusing to say whether has renounced any dual Greek citizenship he may hold through his parents, making him the fourth Turnbull Government cabinet minister whose parliamentary eligibility is now in doubt.
Under Greek law, the child of a mother or father born in Greece ‘acquires Greek citizenship by birth’. In his maiden speech to the Senate in November 2011, the Industry Minister paid tribute to his late parents Dionysos and California Sinodinos, who hailed from the Greek island of Cephalonia.
Cabinet minister Arthur Sinodinos is the fourth cabinet minister to be under citizenship cloud
The NSW Liberal senator has declined to say if he renounced his Greek citizenship by descent
The law in Greece gives the child of a Greek mother or father automatic citizenship by descent
However, when asked by Daily Mail Australia, the Liberal minister’s spokesman declined to say if the New South Wales senator, born in Newcastle north of Sydney in 1957, had renounced any dual Greek citizenship
‘The minister was born in Australia and has never taken Greek citizenship,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
The spokesman declined to answer questions on whether Senator Sinodinos holds dual Greek citizenship through his parents, which would make him ineligible to sit in federal parliament under section 44 of the Australian constitution.
State of origins: Arthur Sinodinos (left) and his cabinet colleague Barnaby Joyce (right) are under a citizenship cloud
Nationals deputy Fiona Nash last week discovered she was a dual British citizen by descent
Matt Canavan resigned as resources minister in July after learning he was a dual Italian
Nicholas Venizelakos, who practises as a barrister in Athens and as a solicitor in Melbourne, said it was compulsory for Greek migrants to register their children’s births with the Greek consulate, from the 1950s until the 1980s.
The Venizelakos Lawyers and Notaries principal, who has 30 years’ legal experience in Australia and Greece, said it was very likely that Senator Sinodinos’ late parents registered their son’s birth to avoid incurring a fine from the Greek government.
‘He maybe didn’t know about it,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
‘Sometimes, there are situations where the kids, they don’t know that they have been registered as a Greek citizen.’
This makes Senator Sinodinos the fourth Turnbull Government cabinet minister to be under a dual citizenship cloud during the past four weeks.
Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan quit as resources minister in late July after discovering his mother had applied for Italian citizenship on his behalf in 2006, when he was 25.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce revealed he was a dual New Zealand citizen by descent, from having a Kiwi-born father.
Larissa Waters quit as a Greens senator in July after learning she was a dual Canadian citizen
Scott Ludlam resigned as Greens senator in July after finding out he was a dual New Zealander
However the Tamworth-born Agriculture Minister has declined to resign as Nationals leader and from cabinet.
His Nationals deputy Fiona Nash revealed two days later that she was a dual British citizen by descent from having a Scottish father, but like her boss she hasn’t quit the cabinet.
The High Court is determining if Mr Joyce and his Nationals colleagues Nash and Canavan are eligible to remain in federal parliament.
South Australian senator Nick Xenophon has announced he is a dual British citizen by descent
Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters quit as Greens senators in July after learning they were dual citizens of New Zealand and Canada, respectively.
One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts’ own party referred him to the High Court last week to decide if he was a dual British citizen when he nominated as a candidate during the 2016 federal election.
South Australian senator Nick Xenophon confirmed at the weekend he is a dual British citizen by descent because his father Theo Xenophou hailed from Cyprus, which was a British colony when his son was born in 1959.
However, he has declined to resign from the Senate.