Court disqualified Australian deputy PM over dual citizenship

Monitoring Desk

CANBERRA: Australian High Court declared Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, ineligible to remain in parliament over dual nationality.

The court decision shaken the Australian parliament as the government was force for by-election in its one seat majority parliament.

The court ordered that Barnaby Joyce must seek a new mandate from his rural New South Wales state electorate and after the court verdict the Australian dollar fell a quarter of US cent.

Joyce was one of seven politicians whose eligibility to sit in parliament was thrown into doubt in recent months when it was found they were dual citizens, which bars them from being elected to the national parliament under Australia’s constitution.

Joyce, who renounced his dual New Zealand citizenship in August, said he would stand in the by-election, which is likely to be held in early December.

All seven lawmakers accepted they were dual nationals when they were elected last year but had claimed they were unaware of their status at the time. Some were conferred a second nationality by birth, others by descent.