Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—In rising to make this statement I note that the High Court sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns will shortly consider the eligibility of a number of parliamentarians, including those who have inherited citizenship by descent through their parents, in the 2016 election. Since the Senate last met, there have been media reports attempting to cast doubt about my citizenship status and, in turn, my eligibility to sit in this Senate. This is the first opportunity I've had to update the Senate on the matters raised since the publication six days ago of an immigration card signed by mother on entering Australia almost 50 years ago. I thank the Senate for giving me the opportunity to do so. I do so to assure the parliament and the people of the ACT of my eligibility to be elected and to serve as a senator in this parliament.

As I informed the Senate in my inaugural speech, I am the Canberra-born daughter of Betsy and Charles Gallagher, who were both born British citizens and who both later became Australian citizens. As part of the ALP's candidate vetting process, I provided information about my parents' and grandparents' places of birth. For my mother, this was in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1943. As I said in the statement I issued last week, as a result of the investigations by the Labor Party, which included obtaining legal advice, it was determined my mother was not an Ecuadorian citizen and that I had not obtained Ecuadorian citizenship by descent from my mother.

My mother was born in 1943 to British citizens who were in Ecuador, where my grandfather was temporarily working on behalf of the Bank of London. My mother's birth was registered at the British consulate at Guayaquil. Her birth certificate, which was issued by the British consul, describes her birth as a birth within the British consulate at Guayaquil. To the best of my knowledge, my mother's birth was never registered with the Ecuadorian government. I'm unable to locate any record of an Ecuadorian birth certificate despite interrogating family records. It's my understanding that an Ecuadorian birth certificate was never obtained for my mother. Sadly, my mother passed away in 2005, aged 62 years, three years before the 2008 changes to the Ecuadorian constitution cited in the recent media reports. During her life, she never took any steps to attain citizenship of Ecuador. My mother was never an Ecuadorian citizen and, accordingly, I could not obtain Ecuadorian citizenship by descent through my mother.

I am not and have never been an Ecuadorian citizen. However, given recent questions about my citizenship in the media, further legal advice was sought to put to bed a question that was already beyond doubt. A formal opinion has been obtained from an expert on Ecuadorian law, Dr Gabriel Echeverria, together with a legal opinion from Dr Matthew Collins QC on my citizenship status and eligibility to sit as a senator under section 44(i) of the Constitution. Both of these opinions confirm the earlier legal advice received during candidate vetting and confirmed that my mother was not an Ecuadorian citizen, that I did not obtain Ecuadorian citizenship by descent through my mother and that I am not and have never been an Ecuadorian citizen.

Dr Echeverria is the European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship's Ecuador and Chile country expert and authored the observatory's Report on citizenship law: Ecuador. He is regarded as the international expert on Ecuadorian citizenship law. The expert opinion of Dr Echeverria concludes that I am not an Ecuadorian citizen nor am I entitled to apply to become an Ecuadorian citizen.

Dr Collins QC practises at the Melbourne bar and at the bar of England and Wales. Dr Collins QC has considered Dr Echeverria's expert report in relation to the circumstances of my mother's birth and has concluded there is no question of my eligibility to serve in this parliament under Australian law, that I am not disqualified under section 44 of the Australian Constitution and that I am constitutionally qualified to sit as a senator.

Since the Senate last met I've also been asked about renunciation of any entitlement to British citizenship. I can confirm that I had renounced any entitlement I may have had to British citizenship by descent from my father. In the mid-1990s I investigated the option of moving to the UK to work. I made inquiries at the time to the British High Commission about living and working in the UK for an extended period. I received the advice that, in order to become a British citizen, I would need to go through a formal application process and that, if I did apply, my application would probably be granted, although it was not automatic. About this time, my father became sick and subsequently died, and so I did not pursue this any further as I needed to remain in Australia with my mother. I never took any steps to become a British citizen and accordingly I was of the understanding that I was not a British citizen.

Prior to entering the Senate on a casual vacancy in March 2015, I was not advised that I needed to renounce any entitlement to foreign citizenship. However, during the pre-election candidate vetting in 2016, the ALP vetting team considered my individual situation and the fact that, since my father had died some 20 years earlier, it was going to be difficult to substantiate his particular circumstances. They advised that, out of an abundance of caution, I should fill out and return form RN, renunciation of British citizenship, to put beyond any doubt that I could obtain British citizenship by descent via my father. Despite my clear understanding that I was not a British citizen, I followed the advice of the ALP vetting team and submitted the paperwork to the UK Home Office together with the required payment on 20 April 2016. I was advised that submitting the declaration of renunciation to the Home Office meant that I had taken all reasonable steps to renounce any entitlement to British citizenship.

I am not a citizen of Ecuador; I am not a citizen of the United Kingdom; I am only an Australian citizen, and I am eligible to serve in this parliament as a senator for the ACT, and it's an honour and a privilege to do so. I thank the Senate.