Labor senator Katy Gallagher has lost her seat in parliament after the High Court ruled she was ineligible to stand for the 2016 election because of her dual citizenship status.
Senator Gallagher had claimed she took all reasonable steps to renounce her British citizenship before the election, but was still a British citizen when the writs were issued.
The 48-year-old former Australian Capital Territory chief minister, who became the ACT’s lone Labor senator in 2015, was born in Canberra in 1970 but her mother was born in Ecuador, which was a British colony at the time of her birth.
Labor senator Katy Gallagher has lost her seat in parliament after the High Court ruled she was ineligible to stand for the 2016 election because of her dual citizenship status
Senator Gallagher had claimed she took all reasonable steps to renounce her British citizenship before the election, but was still a British citizen when the writs were issued
The High Court’s decision puts a cloud over a number of other MPs, including first-term Labor members Susan Lamb and Justine Keay, who both hold marginal seats in outer Brisbane and western Tasmania and are possible dual British citizens.
The Turnbull Government was returned to power with a bare one-seat majority in July 2016 so a by-election in either of those two seats could help the Coalition boost its numbers in the House of Representatives.
The Coalition has been calling for those Labor MPs to resign from parliament.
The High Court ruling could also spark a by-election in the Adelaide Hills seat of Mayo, where the Nick Xenophon Team candidate Rebekha Sharkie defeated former Liberal minister Jamie Briggs.
Ms Sharkie, who is now with the Central Alliance, faces a strong challenge from the Liberal Party should her possible dual citizenship spark a by-election in the previous safe Liberal electorate once held by former foreign minister Alexander Downer.
The 48-year-old former Australian Capital Territory chief minister was born in Canberra in 1970 but her mother was born in Ecuador, which was a British colony at the time of her birth
In Fremantle, south of Perth, first-term Labor MP Josh Wilson is also a potential dual Brit, however this seat would be unlikely to be picked up by the Liberals if there were a by-election.
Since July last year, section 44 of the constitution, which bans dual citizens from being federal members of parliament, has ended the political careers of former Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam.
The citizenship fiasco has also seen crossbench firebrand Jacqui Lambie kicked out of the Senate along with former deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash and former Liberal Senate president Stephen Parry, for being dual citizens of the United Kingdom by descent.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and Liberal MP John Alexander, a former tennis champion, resigned from the House of Representatives last year but were returned in December by-elections, after they discovered they had ties to New Zealand and Britain through their fathers.
The High Court’s decision puts a cloud over a number of other MPs, including first-term Labor MPs Susan Lamb (pictured), who holds the marginal, outer Brisbane seat of Longman
The western Tasmanian-based Labor MP Justine Keay is also a possible dual British citizen and could face a by-election in Braddon
The High Court ruling could also spark a by-election in the Adelaide Hills seat of Mayor, where crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie defeated former Liberal minister Jamie Briggs
In Fremantle, south of Perth, first-term Labor MP Josh Wilson is also a potential dual Brit, however this seat would be unlikely to be picked up by the Liberals if there was a by-election