05:33

I’ve checked in with some government folks about Susan Lamb, and the impact of her statement to parliament after question time. The view is: sad story, but it makes no difference. Her circumstances in terms of the family story are similar to Fiona Nash, the former Nationals deputy leader, and to Malcolm Turnbull, whose mother left the family when he was a boy.

And the questions about her eligibility to sit in parliament remain live as far as the government is concerned. A senior government person says the Labor MP could have written to her mother to access a copy of the marriage certificate, and has also pointed to a legal mechanism to obtain the marriage certificate that could have been pursued, but wasn’t.

Just to be clear what the government’s inclination on Lamb is: the Coalition in the lower house has the numbers to refer her case to the high court immediately. I mentioned in news reports last week that this was unlikely to happen instantly. The government’s thinking has been to build a public case that Lamb has questions to answer, and see what happens. Perhaps she could resign like David Feeney. Perhaps Labor would come on board with a high court referral. In the event Labor digs in, then a hostile referral could be pursued.

