Former top-seeded tennis champ turned Liberal MP John Alexander may be dual citizen.
The 66-year-old member for Bennelong, in Sydney’s north, may have British citizen through his father Gilbert Alexander, who was born in the U.K, Fairfax Media reports.
The former top 10 international tennis player has conceded he didn’t renounce his British citizenship before he become an MP in 2010.
This means Mr Alexander, a former Seven Network sports commentator, may be ineligible to remain in federal parliament under section 44 of the Constitution.
The Liberal member for Bennelong John Alexander may be a dual British citizen by descent
Former top-seeding tennis champion John Alexander (pictured in 1977 at the U.S. Open) may be forced out of parliament
This would spark a by-election in his seat of Bennelong, giving the Turnbull Government another political headache as it governs without a majority in the House of Representatives.
The bombshell comes less than a week after Tasmanian-born Stephen Parry quit as Senate president and as a member of parliament after the British Home Office confirmed he was a dual U.K. citizen through his father.
Late last month, former Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash was forced out of the Senate after the High Court ruled she was a British citizen by descent through her Scottish-born father.
The same judges also ruled that former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was a dual New Zealander by descent, forcing the Nationals leader to fight a December by-election in his northern New South Wales seat of New England.
The Turnbull Government has been dealt another dual citizenship serve thanks to former tennis champ John Alexander (pictured in 1977 at the U.S. Open)
John Alexander (pictured in 1976 in Chicago) could become the seventh MP forced out of parliament as part of the dual citizenship crisis
Mr Alexander, an Order of Australia medalist, has created a new political headache for the Coalition on the same day Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced all members of parliament would need to declare they are not a citizen of another country.
‘I want to say that this is not an audit,’ Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
‘The obligation is on each member and each senator to make a full disclosure.’
Within 21 days of the parliament approving the measure, MPs will be required to provide to the registrar of members’ interests a declaration that he or she was not, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, a citizen of any country other than Australia.
The revelation about Mr Alexander caps off a dual citizenship crisis that began in July, and has forced out six members of federal parliament.