But how am I going to explain this to the Americans?

[tielan]

Right, so, the Australian High Court has declared five Australian politicians ineligible for Australian parliament - ONE OF THEM THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER. There were seven in total, but five were declared ineligible (two of whom had already resigned). The other two were allowed (but one had already resigned before the verdict came out).

This was after that self-same deputy prime minister (now ineligible for his position and out of parliament) gleefully cackled over those two who pre-resigned discovering themselves ineligible.

Let me tell you, the schadenfreude is DELICIOUS.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

Wow. *blink*

[tielan]

Oh yea. Confusing as heck!

[deird1]

Yes, we're serving schadenfreude pie down in these parts as well...

:)

[tielan]

It's HILARIOUS.

[theladyscribe]

Wait, why are they ineligible for parliament?

[tielan]

Complicated rules of British/New Zealand citizenship, meaning the politicians involved all had dual citizenship - some of them unaware of it, some of them unthinking of it, and some knowing of it and just 'believing in his heart' he was Australian...

The rule goes that you're not allowed to serve in Australian parliament if any foreign nation has a legal claim on your loyalty (ie. you're a citizen of another country, even dual).

[havocthecat]

and some knowing of it and just 'believing in his heart' he was Australian...

...no! Oh my goodness, what an idiot.

(Oh, the schadenfreude, you're so right.)

[tielan]

Barnaby Joyce: the article (you've probably read) is here.

Malcolm Roberts: Am I Still A British Citizen?

You can see the carnage on Twitter under #Citizenship7

[havocthecat]

That's pretty damn fascinating, I have to admit. So...got any good recommendations for an Australian news site that I can go read about this on? Wow. There must be years of drama behind this. I check out BBC News, but I haven't gotten a hint of this, so I must not be checking the right articles on there.

(I desperately need political drama that's not American. Please. Just tell me a decent news site and I'll go read up on it.)

[copracat]

guardian.co.uk - look for Australian politics/Australian edition - and theage.com.au

Yes, I'm awake at a stupid time here.

I admit, the fact that the court actually made this ruling and though government is pissed as you can imagine everyone, including them, is like, yep, okay and dealing with it is just - I truly did not believe we still had any integrity left in government and legal systems. It's like, holy shit, democracy lives. A little bit. Maybe.

[tielan]

I was expecting the Greens to be declared not citizens and everyone else to get a free pass TBH. Because that seems to be the way it works these days.

It's rather delightful to watch the might fall...

[heliopausa]

It's like, holy shit, democracy lives. A little bit. Maybe.

Thanks for this reflection - yes, absolutely.

[heliopausa]

Yes, it is (the schadenfreude). I loved that the Greens were the ones with the integrity to resign straightaway, too.
Goodness knows what the wash-up will be - I'd be surprised if Joyce doesn't get back in, but in the meantime, what happens in parliament? I'll be watching Insiders tomorrow with keen attention.

[tielan]

Yes, I noticed that both the Greens resigned promptly, and all the others tried to cling to the shreds of their reputation...

[ninja007]

Nice!