Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will be supporting the One Nation motion to have the eligibility of Senator Roberts referred to the High Court acting as the Court of Disputed Returns. I did try for a different outcome yesterday and, as I said at the time in a statement, I had met with a number of my crossbench colleagues and with the Greens leader Senator Di Natale. I also had a sit-down with Senator Roberts. He told me that a statutory declaration was provided to the Senate President, addressing the question of his eligibility under s44, and he actually read me parts of that stat dec. Senator Roberts personally assured me that the claim he had travelled on a British passport was wrong and that he had travelled on his mother's Australian passport. He said he was confident that he had taken all reasonable steps to confirm his sole Australian citizenship and that a QC's advice was that it would pass the scrutiny in the High Court. When it goes to the High Court, we will see. But following further information I have received in the past 24 hours, I now believe—and I won't get you to pull me up, so I won't say that the senator lied to me, I will just say—he was economical with the truth.