Bankruptcy proceedings against William Anning could open the way for Pauline Hanson to replace Malcolm Roberts with … Malcolm Roberts

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The One Nation Queensland candidate who stands to replace Malcolm Roberts in the Senate if the high court rules Roberts ineligible on citizenship grounds, could himself be ruled ineligible to sit in parliament. This could potentially open the way for Pauline Hanson to replace Malcolm Roberts with Malcolm Roberts.

Bankruptcy proceedings were filed against the One Nation candidate William Fraser Anning and Fiona Ruth Anning by ABL Nominees in the federal circuit court, with court documents obtained by Guardian Australia claiming that the subsidiary of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is saying it is owed $239,393.49.

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It follows a default judgment in the South Australian district court on 26 April, which was made after the defendants did not respond to the claim. The matter is due back in court on 3 October, where it is understood it will be decided.

The following week, the high court will consider Roberts’s eligibility to sit in the Senate after last week ruling he was a dual citizen at the time of nomination.

Anning’s bankruptcy proceedings have the potential to add another wrinkle to the section 44 crisis which has dogged the 45th parliament, if the high court ultimately finds Roberts was ineligible.

If the court finds Anning to to be bankrupt, he becomes ineligible for parliament under section 44, which restricts anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent from sitting.

If Roberts’ election is found to have been invalid, Anning, as the next candidate on the 2016 ticket, who received 19 above-the-line votes in 2016, stands to take his place. If he has been found to be bankrupt, the court would need to look at when he became insolvent.

If it was before the election, then he would also be deemed ineligible, and the count would move to the number four candidate, Judy Smith, Pauline Hanson’s sister, who won 47 first preference votes.

But if any insolvency was found to have occurred after Anning nominated, then a casual vacancy would be created, which would allow One Nation to put anyone it likes forward – including Roberts – to become the party’s second Queensland senator.

When asked, Hanson has previously only said she stands by Roberts, and believes he belongs in the Senate, but would see what the high court decided.

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In a submission to the court on Tuesday the attorney general, George Brandis, argued that parliamentarians who did not voluntarily obtain or retain their dual citizenship and did not know it existed should not be considered to have contradicted section 44.

In his argument, published by the court on Tuesday afternoon, Brandis said that was the case for the three government members who have been referred to the court, Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan, as well as Larissa Waters, who resigned from the Senate after discovering her breach in July, and the Senate crossbencher Nick Xenophon.

But Brandis’s submission made a point of naming the Greens senator Scott Ludlam, who also resigned when he discovered he held dual citizenship, and Roberts as being “incapable of being chosen as senators”.

“The resultant vacancies should be filled by a special count,” Brandis submitted.