The Australian High Court yesterday ruled that Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is ineligible to remain in parliament, a stunning decision that cost the government its one-seat parliamentary majority and forced a by-election.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he accepted the court’s ruling, even though it was “clearly not the outcome we were hoping for.”
Turnbull did not name a new deputy leader during a short news conference in Canberra soon after the court’s ruling.
The Australian leader had been scheduled to travel to Israel today for a week-long visit, but a spokesman for Turnbull told reporters that his departure has now been delayed.
The spokesman said the new travel arrangements were still be finalized.
Turnbull’s center-right coalition is now in a precarious position. His Liberal Party is the senior party in a coalition with the smaller National Party, which Joyce led.
He must now win the support of one of three independent lawmakers to keep his minority government afloat, with two sitting weeks of parliament left until it recesses for the year. At least two independent lawmakers have promised their support.
Independent lawmaker Bob Katter told reporters that he would support the government, but he might reconsider that if the coalition tried to block renewed efforts for a sweeping investigation into the scandal-ridden financial system.
“I think we have the numbers for a commission into the banks and, if the government tries to block that, then I think we will get into murky waters,” Katter said.
The opposition Labor Party immediately went on the attack and threatened to launch a legal challenge to every decision made by Joyce since last year’s election.
Joyce was one of a group of lawmakers, known as the “Citizenship Seven,” whose eligibility to sit in parliament was thrown into doubt in recent months when it was found they hold dual citizenship, a status that is barred for politicians under Australia’s constitution to prevent split allegiances.
Turnbull is under added pressure because he refused to force Joyce to step aside while his case was considered by the High Court.
Joyce, whose New England electorate is in rural New South Wales, renounced his New Zealand citizenship in August.
“The business of government goes on,” Turnbull said, as he confirmed that the New England by-election would be held on Dec. 2.
Joyce confirmed he would run in the by-election, which polling shows he has a strong chance of winning.
“It is a tough game, politics,” Joyce told reporters in the rural town of Tamworth in his electorate. “You take the hits and the sacrifices.”
Acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said Turnbull had shown “reckless judgment” in keeping Joyce on the front bench during the court challenge.
“We are deeply concerned that Australia is facing a period of uncertainty because this prime minister has insisted on keeping ministers on his front bench who have been not only ineligible to be ministers, but ineligible to be in the parliament,” Plibersek said.
All seven lawmakers accepted that they had dual citizenship at the time of their election, but claimed they were unaware of their status. Some were conferred a second nationality by birth, others by descent.
Of the remaining six, who were from the coalition and minority parties, four were also found ineligible to hold parliamentary office.
Some had already resigned. All were senators, which meant seats in the upper house of parliament could be assigned to party alternatives if they were ruled ineligible, rather than hold more by-elections.
Australian Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue had urged the seven justices of the High Court not to interpret the constitution literally.
He argued that five of the seven, including three Cabinet members, should be cleared, because they were unaware that they had contravened the constitutional requirement at the time.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS