Australia faces the prospect of an all-out parliamentary war over dual citizenship with both major parties threatening to refer their opponents to the High Court.
The government’s chief tactician Christopher Pyne confirmed on Sunday the Coalition would “definitely” begin referring Labor MPs if the opposition refused to do so as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ramped up pressure on Bill Shorten to take action.
“Is he really going to say that it’s the Labor Party that decides who sits in the Parliament and not the High Court?” Mr Turnbull said from Hong Kong, accusing Mr Shorten of running a “protection racket”.
Labor quickly returned fire, with a senior source warning the opposition would, in turn, “go nuclear” and that the PM was “locking and loading the gun at his own MPs”.
The opposition has so far resisted calls to refer MPs Justine Keay, Susan Lamb, Josh Wilson and Madeleine King, who face questions over the timing of their applications to renounce British citizenship.
Speaking from the Sydney electorate of Bennelong, which is now set for a byelection after Liberal MP John Alexander’s resignation, Labor’s Tony Burke argued there was “no ambiguity” about whether the party’s MPs “took reasonable steps”.
“There’s been no High Court case to test whether there’s a change in reasonable steps since Sykes and Cleary. That remains the law in Australia,” he said.
Regardless of the finer points of constitutional law, the citizenship mess is hurting the Coalition. The latest Newspoll released on Sunday night found Mr Turnbull’s rating as preferred PM fell 5 points to 36 per cent – leaving him only 2 points higher than Mr Shorten.
Labor also increased its primary vote (ALP 38-LNP 34) and two-party preferred (ALP 55-LNP 45), making it the opposition’s strongest poll since the ousting of Tony Abbott.
The lower house numbers
With Barnaby Joyce and Mr Alexander fighting byelections, the government will have 73 MPs on the floor of the House of Representatives, compared with 74 between Labor (69) and the crossbench (five).
This means the government would need support from the crossbench for any referrals. NXT MP Rebekha Sharkie, who has guaranteed confidence and supply to the government, faces similar eligibility doubts as Labor MPs such as Ms Keay.
Mr Burke accused the government of a “desperate born to rule approach” over its threats to refer Labor MPs.
“It wasn’t that long ago that the exact approach that Christopher Pyne and Malcolm Turnbull were advocating today was said by George Brandis to be dangerous,” he said.
Referrals from the government could also risk retribution from the opposition, which would target five Coalition MPs: Julia Banks, Nola Marino, Alex Hawke, Tony Pasin and Ann Sudmalis.
A senior Labor source said: “If Turnbull wants to fire this missile, we’ve got the ammo to go nuclear.”
“He is locking and loading the gun at his own MPs.”
The escalating rhetoric comes only days after Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten sounded a conciliatory tone as they met to discuss a parliamentary disclosure scheme to end the crisis.
Bennelong byelection
Labor sharpened its attack lines on Mr Alexander on Sunday ahead of a byelection by tying him to the government’s proposed citizenship changes, which were unpopular among diverse communities.
The party is yet to pick its candidate for the seat, where only 48.3 per cent of residents were born in Australia. An election is expected on December 16.
Mr Alexander holds the electorate by nearly 10 per cent and has increased his margin since defeating Labor’s Maxine McKew in 2010.
Confirming he would run to reclaim his seat, Mr Alexander said on Saturday he chose to resign after Mr Turnbull told him to “be decisive”.
“Australia is tired of this absurd situation,” he said.
The Senate will sit for a week from Monday, with both houses to return for a final sitting fortnight on November 27.
