The Egyptian embassy in Canberra has handed Labor MP Anne Aly documents that prove she’s not a dual citizen after questions were raised about her eligibility to sit in parliament.
Dr Aly, who holds the marginal Western Australia seat of Cowan, was ordered by Leader Bill Shorten to re-check the status of her citizenship.
Questions into her eligibility came just days after a High Court ruling forced the departure of five MPs and triggered a string of by-elections across the country.
Dr Aly, who holds the marginal Western Australia seat of Cowan, was ordered by Leader Bill Shorten to re-check the status of her citizenship
The embassy’s statement, which was released by Dr Aly this afternoon, states the MP is not an Egyptian citizen.
‘Dr Anne Aly renounced Egyptian citizenship on May 6, 2016 having completed all the steps required and, as of that date, had completely renounced her Egyptian citizenship,’ the embassy stated.
‘Nothing further needed to be done to make her renunciation effective.’
‘In addition, according to the Egyptian Law Article 16 of Law Number 26 issued in 1975… any Egyptian who obtains another nationality without permission will lose his/her Egyptian nationality be default’.
The correspondence saves the Cowan MP from fighting a by-election alongside several caucus colleagues caught in the dual-citizenship saga.
Earlier, Mr Shorten demanded Dr Aly publicly produce proof of her sole citzenship.
‘She will have to make that public,’ 9News reported Mr Shorten as saying.
Leader Bill Shorten ordered her to publicise the Egyptian embassy document
‘I’m sorry that we’ve had this constitutional problem and that we have these elections coming up.’
‘I am sorry that Australian people are annoyed, when they see the political parties and politicians who think they’re eligible and not eligible. Absolutely.’
Candidates elected in 2016 must have completely renounced any dual citizenship by the June 9 nomination to be eligible to sit in parliament under the High Court’s interpretation of section 44.
Labor’s Susan Lamb, Josh Wilson and Justine Keay resigned from their lower house seats on after the High Court ruled Senator KaTy Gallagher was a dual British citizen and shouldn’t be in the Upper House.
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie also resigned on Friday after finding herself swept up in the dual citizenship saga.
The ousted MPs will face by-elections to be held on a ‘Super Saturday’ as early as June 16.