Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I don't want my strike rate to go any lower—although I was speaking to one of the colleagues here on the crossbench, who advised me that his strike rate was zero, so I said: 'Go for your life. It can only get better.'

But seriously, Mr Speaker, we have a position where we have had Senator Gallagher referred by Labor to the High Court because she was a UK citizen at the time she nominated. Fair enough! She will make an argument that filing the renunciation paper was enough. The High Court will consider that. It is clearly a matter for the court. Only the High Court can determine that matter, and it's plainly in the public interest that it be determined. This area of the law needs more certainty, more clarity, and members who are in her position should go to the High Court for precisely the same reason.

If the member for Batman is, as he appears to be—unless he can find some paperwork to the contrary—in fact a dual citizen right now, he shouldn't be sitting here today, because he knows that, following the High Court's ruling, following the rejection of the arguments the government made to take a more lenient approach, it is a very black letter law approach to this section. The fact is that what Labor now wants to do is to create some sense of political equity or balance by referring members of the coalition who are not dual citizens to the High Court. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: if you believe any of our members are dual citizens, put up or shut up; actually state the case. He has no evidence, no basis, to make those claims. This is simply a distraction from his hopeless failure on leadership.

Of course, it's not just dual citizens he's been covering up for, trying to bamboozle the media with talk about his great vetting procedures. It is also, of course, a senator who has much more than a dual citizenship issue at stake. It's Senator Dastyari. And there the issue is one of loyalty. Who is the Leader of the Opposition loyal to? Is he loyal to Australia and our national interests, or is he loyal to the man who runs the faction that put him in his job? (Time expired)

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