2017-11-16

Dual Citizenship Crisis in Australia

Coming soon to an Anglosphere nation near you.

Sunday Times: Eighth Australian lawmaker resigns over dual citizenship
A constitutional crisis roiling Australian politics claimed a new victim Tuesday with the resignation of the eighth lawmaker to be felled by a once-obscure rule barring dual citizens from federal office.

The departure of Jacqui Lambie, a colourful independent senator from the island state of Tasmania, comes after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's centre-right government lost its grip on parliament as MPs were toppled by the citizenship issue.

Lambie announced her resignation in a tearful speech, telling MPs she had just learned she held British nationality from her Scottish grandfather and father.
The Australian situation was a result of existing law. The lawmakers in question are also citizens of New Zealand, Canada, Britain, Scotland and Canada.

If the law in other Anglosphere countries doesn't already proscribe dual citizenship, there will likely be laws passed in the coming decade or two, or at the very least, those with dual loyalties will be hounded from public office, lose security clearance and high ranking positions in government. Once the ball gets rolling on this issue, it creates its own incentives since political allies can benefit from having those above them kicked out of office. The United States won't be spared, if anything it is likely to have the most intense scrutiny because its status as empire provides real opportunities for foreigners to manipulate government policy.

2 comments:

  1. Requirements for federal office in the US are Constitutional, and that takes 2/3 majority to amend, so not likely

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    1. But not requirements for security clearance. They could be barred from sitting on intelligence and security committees, and that could be used during elections. Social mood always finds a way.

      When Kissinger Threatened Rabin: A Lesson to Current Israeli Decision Makers?

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