Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President, and can I take this opportunity to congratulate you on assuming the high office that you hold.

Mr President, former Senator Parry was a valued colleague and a friend to many in this place. I regret that he will no longer be serving this chamber and the people of Tasmania. I acknowledge the service he rendered in this place. Like many colleagues in this and the other place, I have engaged in discussions about citizenship. These discussions have traversed the complexities of the citizenship laws of other countries and questions such as, 'What would be the effect if North Korea granted citizenship to all in this chamber?' Being colleagues and friends, former Senator Parry and I were no exception when it came to such discussions. Given the varied and casual nature of these, I can't be definitive as to when former Senator Parry started to reflect about his particular circumstances. While it would have been more than a couple of weeks before the High Court decision, it was not months. He indicated that he was endeavouring to check his family's own records.

Former Senator Parry always recognised that it was the responsibility of each senator and member to determine and be satisfied about their own circumstances, and I encouraged him to do so. This duty is individual and personal. It cannot be abrogated, outsourced or transferred, and former Senator Parry never sought to do so. Suggestions I directed the former senator are wrong. I did not speak to others about a private discussion with a colleague on a matter of their responsibility about which they had not, to my knowledge, reached a concluded view. On the Monday after the High Court decision, former Senator Parry let me know that he had sought advice from the British Home Office, had advised the Attorney-General of this and had thought it unlikely he would return to the parliament. Former Senator Parry has subsequently resigned his office. We are each responsible for assessing our own circumstances regarding eligibility to sit in this place.