Coalition Senator Matt Canavan has Italian citizenship

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time to end racism in this country

http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/backgrounders/s44-constitution.htm

Recommendation 2: The Committee recommends that a referendum be held to make the following changes to the constitution:

  • delete subsection 44(i).
  • insert a new provision requiring candidates and members of parliament to be Australian citizens.
  • empower parliament to enact legislation determining the grounds for disqualification of members of parliament in relation to foreign allegiance.

how hard is it to get government to get our own laws and constitution right and in harmony with each other............and then respect them?
 

Fire

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Italian law stipulates that the acquisition of citizenship is automatic upon birth in such a case.

http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/italiani_nel_mondo/serviziconsolari/cittadinanza.html?LANG=EN

And you have to provide the documentation to prove it. Untill then you arent a citizen, you are just eligable for it. Like any other citizenship application which you might be eligable for. This is nothing special or complex.

If you dont apply for it, then you won't aquire citizenship. You wont be a citizen. Simple as that.
 

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Fire

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Maybe I should run this country, I definitely don't have other citizenship, nor am eligible. 4th Generation Australian... Just makes living here in London a shorter time :(

Same! Would be a handy thing to have!

I've married an American and am living in the US on a green card tho, so i may end up with a dual citizenship after all. Theres hope for us all ^^
 
time to end racism in this country

http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/backgrounders/s44-constitution.htm

Recommendation 2: The Committee recommends that a referendum be held to make the following changes to the constitution:

  • delete subsection 44(i).
  • insert a new provision requiring candidates and members of parliament to be Australian citizens.
  • empower parliament to enact legislation determining the grounds for disqualification of members of parliament in relation to foreign allegiance.

how hard is it to get government to get our own laws and constitution right and in harmony with each other............and then respect them?
Well that explains why it hasn't got past the that committee recommendation- holding referendums are expensive, generally fail and this one also no monty to get up. Even from this site (on the greens thread) the possibility of someone working in another country's interest is enough for some (ie me) to say they are comfortable with discrimination.

I think we should start with a bigfooty poll though, will get a sample of views.
 

Fire

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Well that explains why it hasn't got past the that committee recommendation- holding referendums are expensive, generally fail and this one also no monty to get up. Even from this site (on the greens thread) the possibility of someone working in another country's interest is enough for some (ie me) to say they are comfortable with discrimination.

I think we should start with a bigfooty poll though, will get a sample of views.

I think people will be bored enough to pass it. Its hardly a touchy subject and has been causing administrarive problems of late, which annoys people.
 

Bomberboyokay

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If he was a backbench senator (MP in this parliament is a different story) the party would've told him to resign. But he's top brass in the Barnaby Joyce faction, hence the Cabinet post after less than 2 years, so they've decided it's worth the PR risk.

He's hard right so hopefully the *er goes down.
 
Greens have come out as the most honest party from this issue.
Agreed, whatever the circumstances behind his acquisition of Italian citizenship, he still is one which means he's ineligible to sit, neither of the Green Senators realised they held duel nationality either. To try to fight this in court looks petty, and makes it appear like there's a rule for government ministers that doesn't apply to everyone else.
 

Brunswick Trap King

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Agreed, whatever the circumstances behind his acquisition of Italian citizenship, he still is one which means he's ineligible to sit, neither of the Green Senators realised they held duel nationality either. To try to fight this in court looks petty, and makes it appear like there's a rule for government ministers that doesn't apply to everyone else.
If his mother signed him up illegally, then it's fair enough he fights it. If that's the case, she should have criminal charges brought against her for fraud.

Otherwise, you're completely right.
 

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Jascave

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Is this the end of the Coalition? ;)

Not for now. But watch out for fireworks if the Coalition loses the next federal election by a big margin (ie landslide). The finger pointing will start in earnest as to who is to blame for the huge election loss, which could see as many as 15-20 Coalition ministers lose their seats in the House of Representatives.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Eric Blair

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No, he is not, and never has been, Italian. He is eligible to claim Italian citizenship. But he isnt Italian before then because as you said, they have NFI who he is.

Being eligable for a citizenship is NOT the same as taking it up and actually being a citizen, and I dont know how you've managed to conflate the two.

Im afraid tandino is right, Italian citizenship, like most European countries goes on the basis of jus sanguinarus, or by blood. In Anglo saxon countries it goes by birth. So there is no question of eligibility,; you either are Italian by blood or you're not. However, you are partially right in that the Italian government would have NFI who he is. But the moment his mum went to the consulate, she would have given the consulate staff his details as well.

So in this case, the good Senator is an Italian citizen, however it needed a trigger which outside of Italy means a visit to the consulate.

I can back this up with a personal example: My parents migrated to Australia in the 1960's but never naturalised so when i was born in 1982 i was automatically an Italian citizen as my parents never renounced their citizenship. However no-one in my family realised this as because i was born here, they assumed that i was an Australian citizen and that was that. This all changed in the late 90's when my sister went to Europe for a holiday and got an Italian passport. My parents decided to renew their passports and gave the consulate my details (i.e that yes they had another kid namely me). Nothing happened until a few days before my 18th birthday when in the mail were my call up forms for Military Service in the Italian army! The reason being was that i was an Italian citizen by birth. but my parents never reported my birth which they should of, but no migrant ever does.

So had my parents never renewed their passports, i never would been documented and i never would have got conscripted and I probably wouldn't have been none the wiser.

Fun fact: When i got my Italian passport it was actually cheaper than my Australian one and took less time to process as well!
 
Your comments on Aboriginal people and "sit down money" seem rather racist to me...

how do you work that out given we pay sit down money to all nationalities?

and what comments re aboriginals do you refer to?
 
Well that explains why it hasn't got past the that committee recommendation- holding referendums are expensive, generally fail and this one also no monty to get up. Even from this site (on the greens thread) the possibility of someone working in another country's interest is enough for some (ie me) to say they are comfortable with discrimination.

I think we should start with a bigfooty poll though, will get a sample of views.

I respect your view btw but clearly just hold a very different one

as a logical decision tree path could not lead any reasonable person to believe another citizenship = working in another countries interests. Nor would not having another citizenship = not working in another countries interests.

further conflicts of interests are easily managed.
 
Maybe Waters, and Ludlum should have just stepped down from their leadership positions within the party, and remained as a humble Senators as Canavan is.
If Canavan has Italian citizenship, he will have to resign too.

Bit of casual racism for the Greens leader weighing in too.

And Greens leader Richard Di Natale weighed in, saying it would been more appropriate for Canavan to have quit altogether. "The advice we received was that ignorance is no excuse," he said. "A real Italian never blames his mum."
 
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Agreed, whatever the circumstances behind his acquisition of Italian citizenship, he still is one which means he's ineligible to sit, neither of the Green Senators realised they held duel nationality either. To try to fight this in court looks petty, and makes it appear like there's a rule for government ministers that doesn't apply to everyone else.

Not withstanding the stupidity of this whole situation, it's probably not a bad thing for some more case law on Section 44. There is a lot of tenuous links in foreign nationality law between foreign governments and the descendants of their former residents, it would be good to know where the line is drawn.
 
I wonder which is a greater allegiance issue:
- having a dual citizenship; or
- belief in god?

I dare say most religious nutters (a bona fide segment of religious people) would be far more conflicted by their religion that their citizenship status. Further, most politicians are "sluts" for votes and financial support. Therefore they are conflicted by the allegiance of power broking groups like big business, unions and the church.

Bizarrely, many seem to focus on a piece of paper/ document when it comes to the question of allegiance. Especially when a representative, represents the electorate and not the nation.
 

Brunswick Trap King

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Im afraid tandino is right, Italian citizenship, like most European countries goes on the basis of jus sanguinarus, or by blood. In Anglo saxon countries it goes by birth. So there is no question of eligibility,; you either are Italian by blood or you're not. However, you are partially right in that the Italian government would have NFI who he is. But the moment his mum went to the consulate, she would have given the consulate staff his details as well.

So in this case, the good Senator is an Italian citizen, however it needed a trigger which outside of Italy means a visit to the consulate.

I can back this up with a personal example: My parents migrated to Australia in the 1960's but never naturalised so when i was born in 1982 i was automatically an Italian citizen as my parents never renounced their citizenship. However no-one in my family realised this as because i was born here, they assumed that i was an Australian citizen and that was that. This all changed in the late 90's when my sister went to Europe for a holiday and got an Italian passport. My parents decided to renew their passports and gave the consulate my details (i.e that yes they had another kid namely me). Nothing happened until a few days before my 18th birthday when in the mail were my call up forms for Military Service in the Italian army! The reason being was that i was an Italian citizen by birth. but my parents never reported my birth which they should of, but no migrant ever does.

So had my parents never renewed their passports, i never would been documented and i never would have got conscripted and I probably wouldn't have been none the wiser.

Fun fact: When i got my Italian passport it was actually cheaper than my Australian one and took less time to process as well!
... I'm waiting to find out if you answered the call to arms. Kinda left us hanging there.
 

Eric Blair

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... I'm waiting to find out if you answered the call to arms. Kinda left us hanging there.

:D good one

i was able to resist the charms of military service in the old country.

Actually, i got a deferment as i was a University student at the time, looking back i kind of regret it as the government would have paid for my trip to Italy and i would have had free accommodation at least for 9 months. Plus conscripts were barred from serving outside of Italy so there was never any worry about serving in combat.

I just remember the amount of paperwork i had to sign to get a deferral, and then i was told that if i ever went back to Italy i had to first go to the Adelaide consulate to get what was called a permesso form and then the moment i got to Italy i had to go to the first police station to get the form stamped and to carry said form on me at all times, otherwise they could arrest me for desertion! Luckily they scrapped military service in 05 so i never had to worry about it when i went to Italy with my wife
 

Bomberboyokay

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I wonder which is a greater allegiance issue:
- having a dual citizenship; or
- belief in god?

I dare say most religious nutters (a bona fide segment of religious people) would be far more conflicted by their religion that their citizenship status. Further, most politicians are "sluts" for votes and financial support. Therefore they are conflicted by the allegiance of power broking groups like big business, unions and the church.

Bizarrely, many seem to focus on a piece of paper/ document when it comes to the question of allegiance. Especially when a representative, represents the electorate and not the nation.

If religious nutters concern you, why are you voting Liberal?
 
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