Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Senator McGrath is absolutely correct. The calling into question of a member of parliament's eligibility to stand is a very serious issue. Perhaps someone should have told Tony Abbott that yesterday when he stood up with proof of his own citizenship and called on the Leader of the Opposition to demonstrate that he, in fact, was not a dual citizen. Senator McGrath's comment that we need to think very carefully before we call into question the eligibility of members of parliament is something we should take seriously. It's a shame that members of the coalition don't follow their own advice. The reality here is that we have put this motion up time and time again because we will be here again and again with further referrals to the High Court because we have not conducted a full and comprehensive audit of everybody's eligibility to stand in this parliament. The crossbench support it. It is time that Liberal and Labor do too.