Barnaby Joyce, Deputy PM of Australia and an MP serving a rural electorate in New South Wales (NSW), on Monday referred himself to the country`s High Court after receiving advice he could hold a New Zealand-Australian dual citizenship, Xinhua news agency reported. Key points: Barnaby Joyce revealed "shock" over NZ citizenship doubts

NZ says as his father was born there, Joyce is automatically a citizen

High Court to rule on Joyce's eligibility for Parliament

The Deputy Prime Minister revealed on Monday morning that he was contacted by the New Zealand High Commission last Thursday and advised he "could be a citizen of New Zealand by descent". The Deputy Prime Minister, who was born in Australia and has never applied for New Zealand citizenship, said he was "shocked" to receive Fairfax Media's questions on Thursday. "If Barnaby's father was indeed a New Zealand citizen in 1967 then it looks like Barnaby may have become a New Zealand citizen at birth courtesy of section 7 of the 1948 Act," Dr Hood told Fairfax Media. Barnaby Joyce is a New Zealand citizen, NZ PM confirms

Updated

New Zealand's Prime Minister has confirmed that "unwittingly or not", Barnaby Joyce is a citizen of the country because his father was born there. "It is a matter for the Australian system to decide how Australian law applies in his case and how they deal with this issue," he told reporters. Labor demands Joyce stand aside

But with his Government's slim, one-seat majority in the House of Representatives potentially hanging in the balance, Mr Joyce's political opponents can smell blood. The revelations could spark a crisis for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull`s Liberal-National coalition government, which won national elections last year with 76 seats in the House of Representatives — a narrow one-seat majority. Joyce said Monday he might have New Zealand citizenship, by descent, but did not quit cabinet or Parliament and instead referred his election to the High Court. Turnbull 'very confident' Joyce won't be disqualified

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull strongly defended his deputy during a rowdy Question Time, saying the Government was "very confident" of its legal advice and predicting the High Court will rule in Mr Joyce's favour. 'I was born in Tamworth, just as my mother and my great-grandmother was born there 100 years earlier,' he told parliament on Monday morning. And in a 2015 press release, the department said: "Babies born in Australia and other countries to New Zealand parents are still Kiwis. It was revealed on Tuesday the question over Joyce`s eligibility came about after members of the opposition Australian Labor Party asked members of New Zealand Labor to investigate whether Joyce would be a citizen due to his father being born in New Zealand. "Neither my parents nor I have ever applied to register me as a New Zealand citizen, the New Zealand Government has no register recognising me as an New Zealand citizen," Mr Joyce told Parliament. However, Mr Joyce is refusing to stand down, saying the Government's lawyers were of the "firm view" that the High Court would not disqualify him because his New Zealand citizenship had been conferred on him without his knowledge. He told Parliament he had decided to refer himself to the High Court for clarification but would not resign from cabinet and would remain as the member for the NSW electorate of New England. Barnaby Joyce has referred himself to the High Court, after Fairfax Media asked the Deputy Prime Minister a series of questions about whether he could be a dual citizen of New Zealand. Questions over dual citizenship - which is prohibited for members of parliament under the constitution - have already forced two Greens senators to quit, Nationals senator Matt Canavan to resign as resources minister, and put question marks over a number of other MPs.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Barnaby Joyce is revealed to have unknowingly held dual citizenship with New Zealand since his election, which may have rendered him ineligible for candidacy under section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.