Bill Shorten is so sure that he properly renounced his British citizenship he refused to release the proof no less than eight times.
The Opposition Leader was grilled in a one-on-one edition of Q&A when discussion turned to the growing dual-citizenship scandal that has claimed seven MPs.
Tony Jones pointed out Liberal MP Angus Taylor called him a hypocrite for not releasing his documents, but the 50-year-old hit back hard.
Bill Shorten is so sure that he properly renounced his British citizenship he refused to release the proof no less than eight times
The Opposition Leader was grilled in a one-on-one edition of Q&A when discussion turned to the growing dual-citizenship scandal that has claimed seven MPs
‘This government would put a cloud over me every week. They’re saying I’m a New Zealand agent and now a British agent – not that I’ll get to play 007 before you go there,’ he retorted.
‘We don’t think we live in a nation where if someone makes an accusation you have to prove and everything you say,’ he added – a point he wold often return to.
Jones asked a second time: ‘Do you have the documents? Can you release them if necessary?’
In response, Mr Shorten detailed how his father was born in northeast England and his British citizenship was passed on.
‘So you go and renounce it if you want to run for parliament,’ he concluded.
Jones persisted: ‘So you’ve got the documents?’ to which Mr Shorten replied ‘we’ve done all of that’.
Before the ALP leader could continue, Jones asked a fourth time ‘you’ve got the documents? Will you release them or not?’
Given a straight question to answer, Mr Shorten instead launched into an attack on Liberal Party politicians demanding ALP members’ documents.
Bill Shorten avoided question on proving his citizenship on no more than eight occasions which made for bizarre viewing
‘Just because a Liberal makes an accusation doesn’t mean the rest of us have to start searching through the filing cabinets,’ he said.
He said all seven MPs embroiled in the scandal so far had referred themselves to the High Court, or resigned, rather than being dobbed in by another party.
Mr Shorten likened the demands to release his documents to when conservatives including now-President Donald Trump demanded then-President Barack Obama release his birth certificate.
‘Then they said it was a fake. Some people are never going to be satisfied,’ he said.
Jones then sought to clarify where the debate stood: ‘Let’s confirm this, you’re not going to release the documents – is that right?’
‘I know what I am. We have a screening process. I’ve been clear four times,’ Mr Shorten replied, on what was actually the fifth refusal.
‘That’s a no? You’re not going to release the documents?’ Jones countered.
‘What is the case to release it?’
‘I’m just asking you.’
Scrutiny fell on Shorten comes after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was outed as a New Zealand citizen by decent last week
Mr Shorten instead referred again to his point about accusers needing evidence to back up their claims instead of defenders needing to produce proof.
‘We haven’t actually demanded that Barnaby Joyce refer himself to the He did. We didn’t jump up and down about the Greens senators, they did,’ he said.
‘I get the Constitution has caused great inconvenience to this Government. The High Court will resolve it.
‘I wish the Government of the day would perhaps park these two ministers (Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash) on the interchange bench as they did with the first minister (Matt Canavan).
Scrutiny on Shorten comes after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was outed as a New Zealand citizen by decent last week.
Former Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Walters also resigned after they discovered they were dual citizens of New Zealand and Canada respectively.
Fiona Nash, Malcolm Roberts and Matt Canavan have also been caught up in the scandal, while Nick Xenophon revealed he had dual-citizenship.