Cabinet minister Josh Frydenberg says it is "absurd" to suggest he holds dual citizenship as his Budapest-born mother was stateless when she arrived in Australia in 1950 as a migrant, aged seven.

A report emerged overnight suggesting the Environment and Energy Minister may hold Hungarian citizenship by descent, and that he was trying to clarify his citizenship status.

The Hungarian embassy in Washington says under current law, "the child of every Hungarian citizen becomes a Hungarian citizen by birth (whether the mother or the father is a [or both are] Hungarian citizen[s])".

But Mr Frydenberg says he is not entitled to dual citizenship because his mother and grandparents were stateless when they arrived in Australia. He has produced documents from the national archives showing their landing details.