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GreekReporter.comAustraliaBill Kardamitsis Says Dual Citizenship MP's Should be Banned

Bill Kardamitsis Says Dual Citizenship MP’s Should be Banned

The Labor candidate whose ties to Greece ruled him ineligible for parliament in a key High Court decision 25 years ago, is adamant that the seven MPs exposed as having dual citizenship should be kicked out of federal politics.

Bill Kardamitsis; who contested the Victorian seat of Wills at a 1992 by-election, told The Australian: “I thought the moment I became an Australian citizen and swore my allegiance to the Queen — I thought that was it.”

“As far as I’m concerned, the whole lot of them are ineligible,” he said. “I think they should be treated in the same way that I was treated … I could have been the federal member for Wills.”

The citizenship imbroglio gripping the parliament is scheduled to return to the High Court for three days of hearings from tomorrow, with the government arguing MPs should not be disqualified for being unaware they could be citizens of a foreign country.

The government argues that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Nationals senators Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan, have not breached section 44(i) of the Constitution because they did not know they were dual citizens.

The same argument is made for former Greens senator Larissa Waters and South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, but not for One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts or former Greens senator Scott Ludlam, both of whom were born overseas.

Section 44(i) states that an individual is ineligible for federal parliament if they are the “subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power”.

Source: The Australian

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