MP for marginal seat of Batman was referred to high court in December over citizenship

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Labor’s David Feeney has resigned from federal politics, triggering a byelection in the seat of Batman, which the ALP fears it could lose to the Greens.



Feeney became embroiled in the dual citizenship fiasco last year after failing to locate paperwork confirming his citizenship status and his eligibility to sit in the parliament.

The Labor MP was referred to the court by federal parliament in December after being unable to produce documents confirming he had renounced any foreign citizenship in 2007.

Labor MP David Feeney tells high court he cannot find citizenship papers Read more

At a preliminary hearing in the high court in January, Feeney’s legal team confirmed he was still unable to produce any documentary evidence from British or Irish authorities that he took steps to renounce his citizenship and entitlements.

On Thursday, Feeney told reporters that since the necessary records could not be produced: “I am unable to disprove that I am a dual citizen”.

“On this basis, having regard for my duty under section 44 of the constitution, I have today written to the speaker of the House of Representatives resigning as an MP effective immediately,” Feeney said.

“I have spoken to my family and I have decided that I will not be seeking ALP preselection for this byelection. Today I have written to the Victorian ALP state secretary to that effect”.

He said the ALP deserved a candidate in Batman that was able to give “the months and the years ahead 150% of their effort, their commitment and their passion”.

“After careful reflection, I don’t believe I’m able to offer this,” he said.

Labor sources have told Guardian Australia the likely candidate to replace Feeney in the seat is the Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney, who was looking at a state seat but has been prevailed upon to run federally.

The federal seat of Batman is in the same geographical area as the Victorian state seat of Northcote, which the Greens snatched from the Victorian Labor government in late November in a byelection.

Federally, the Greens fancy their chances of taking Batman from Labor, and Labor insiders concede privately that outcome is entirely possible.

Kearney, with her campaign background, is regarded as a stronger candidate than Feeney in the Melbourne electorate which includes the biggest Greens branch in the country, and a substantial, established field operation.

The Greens candidate in the seat will be Alex Bhathal, who went close to taking the seat from Labor at the last federal election.

While there is some criticism about Bhathal at the local level, she has the support of the Greens federal team, and party sources say the local backbiting is from a minority of members.

Australia's citizenship scramble: which MPs are safe, who's out and who doesn't know? | Interactive Read more

The Liberals are unlikely to field a candidate, which will increase the difficulty of Labor’s bid to hold the seat.

The Victorian ALP is in the middle of a bare-knuckle factional battle triggered by a proposed power realignment between right and left wing powerbrokers.

Before Feeney’s resignation on Thursday, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, sent a public signal for the first time that the federal ALP could seek to stop the controversial Adani coalmine – a hardening of the party’s stance.

The Greens have been running an anti-Adani campaign in the suburbs of Melbourne covered by the Batman boundaries for almost 12 months, associating Labor with the project.

The Greens campaign will be amplified by local activist groups campaigning against the controversial Queensland mine project.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said in a statement Feeney had informed him of his intentions late on Wednesday. He said he’d been “shocked” when Feeney informed him about his problems with dual citizenship.

Shorten said Feeney’s decision to resign from parliament was “the right one and spares the valuable time and resources of the high court”.

“Labor will put forward a strong candidate at the upcoming Batman byelection, who’ll stand up for the things that matter to Australians: protecting penalty rates and local jobs, protecting Medicare and schools, keeping taxes lower for ordinary people, and building a strong economy that delivers for all,” the Labor leader said.

Feeney’s decision to step down allows the contest in the seat to be brought on more quickly than if the ALP had waited until the outcome of the high court’s deliberation. As well as the imminent resumption of the parliamentary year, Labor needs to plan for its national conference – often a fractious affair – which is due in the middle of 2018.

But the eventual outcome in the seat of Batman seems unlikely to end the controversy. Labor has more MPs facing questions about their eligibility to sit in parliament courtesy of dual citizenship questions.

On Thursday, the manager of government business, Christopher Pyne declared that Shorten needed to “show some character” and call upon another lower house Labor MP, Susan Lamb, the Labor member for Longman, to resign because of her dual citizenship of the United Kingdom.

“Susan Lamb, very clearly, is still a UK citizen,” Pyne told reporters in Adelaide. “The advice from her own barrister indicates she’s never relinquished her UK citizenship”.

Pyne said if Lamb departed the parliament in the same way as Feeney, meaning via resignation, “byelections for Longman and Batman can be held on the same day, saving the Australian taxpayer money rather than having separate long, drawn-out byelections and another high court referral of Susan Lamb to the high court, costing taxpayers money yet again”.

Asked by journalists about the questions about the eligibility of some Liberal MPs, Pyne said there were no questions about “legitimacy” on the government side.

With federal parliament set to resume for 2018 next week, Pyne said the government would not seek to refer anyone to the high court “unless there is a very clear evidence base for doing so”.

“This isn’t the Salem witch trials,” he said. “It’s evidence-based.”





