It was way back in 1920 in the seat of Kalgoorlie. Even then, the Labor candidate, a firebrand named Hugh Mahon, had to go to extreme lengths to get himself tossed aside by the voters. Just two years after the end of World War I, the Irish-born Mahon, attacking British policy in Ireland, extended his damnation to the entire British Empire. The Empire, he roared at a meeting in Melbourne, was "this bloody and accursed despotism". Prime Minister Billy Hughes made sure the parliament expelled Mahon from the House - the only time it has ever occurred. In the resulting byelection, Mahon lost Kalgoorlie to the Hughes’ Nationalist candidate, George Foley. The rarity of such an event, of course, means that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has history firmly against any hope he may hold of winning any of the seats now vacated by three of Shorten’s colleagues found by the High Court to have been dual citizens when they entered parliament.

The mere fact, however, that the High Court has forced Labor to the three byelections, many months after Shorten refused to have any of his MPs tested by the court alongside Liberals, Nationals, Greens, the former Xenophon party and One Nation, is a significant blow to the Labor leader’s credibility. He boasted that Labor had stricter vetting processes than any of the parties. He said he could guarantee that none of his colleagues had a citizenship problem. Loading And when he was asked whether this was “rolled gold”, he said yes.

Inadvertently, perhaps, the latter response was the closest to the truth. Rolled gold is a cheap form of gold jewellery because it is nothing but a thin layer of precious metal laid over baser material for the sake of appearance. Shorten now complains that the High Court has changed its approach to the question of whether “all reasonable steps” had been taken by would-be MPs to renounce their dual citizenship. In fact, as a cursory reading of prior judgments, particularly that of One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, the High Court has done no such thing. Indeed, all through the long months of denial, Shorten must have known one of his MPs, Susan Lamb, most likely remained a dual citizen. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video