STATEMENT ON CITIZENSHIP CRISIS & GOVERNMENT COVER-UP

For too long, our parliament has been mired in the dual citizenship mess. The government is distracted by chaos and stuck in crisis – and the country is poorer for it.

 

I am deeply concerned that following the resignation of Senator Parry, serious stories have emerged about senior Ministers being aware of his situation.  This cover up is incredibly alarming.

 

The Government has no plan to resolve the citizenship crisis.  Turnbull has been incapable of providing any leadership to fix this mess.

 

It is time to bring this to a sensible and mature conclusion.

 

We accept that more needs to be done to restore confidence in the system.

 

Labor is prepared to support a process such as universal disclosure to the parliament to deal with this issue effectively.

 

Labor has the strictest vetting processes - we've got nothing to fear from greater transparency and disclosure.  We welcome it.

 

I’m prepared to cooperate with the Government to come up with an agreed process that brings this issue to an end.

                                                       

Whatever the ultimate process is, it must adhere to clear principles. It must be accountable to the people through the parliament.  It must have bipartisan agreement prior to implementation. It must be sufficiently robust to give all Australians confidence in the process.

 

But it must not be allowed to create more legal problems, or in any way undermine the supremacy of the High Court on these matters.

 

We must ensure this debacle never happens again – so we will work with the Government to ensure there are stronger processes across the board for candidates in the future. 

 

One thing is clear: the situation as it stands cannot be allowed to continue.

 

Labor has always had the strictest processes – it is incumbent on the other parties to step up.