Political Chronicles: Commonwealth of Australia July to December 2017

Abstract

As the year 2017 played out, a bizarre sequence of political crises handicapped not only the Turnbull government but also the entire parliament and most of the major and minor political parties. Of course, the usual incidence of mishaps and political bushfires had to be dealt with, but a series of major almost volcanic crises threatened government’s leadership as well as the fundamental legitimacy of the entire system of representative government. The most serious eruption was the “dual citizenship crisis” that beset senators and members alike, with speculation that over thirty elected representatives sitting in the present parliament were susceptible to a challenge under section 44(i) of the Constitution (and maybe as many as fifty). Many sitting politicians were entangled even if they had not taken steps to activate a potential citizenship entitlement. Some even claimed not to have known they were entitled to citizenship of other countries. The issue, which first surfaced in July 2017 but ran well into 2018, was made all the more complex because other nations could amend their citizenship laws at any time, thus changing access to the entitlement.