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Did you miss the 2 by elections caused by 2 coalition members stepping down.
They’ve done their bit. It’s now the ALPs turn. Why should the coalition put anyone else up until the others have caught up?
They’ve done their bit. It’s now the ALPs turn. Why should the coalition put anyone else up until the others have caught up?
If there are any dual citizens then they need to be booted out, whether they belong to Labor or the Coalition. If there is any doubt at all about any candidates, then the HC (sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns) is the only organisation qualified to make the determination - not Bill Shorten, and not Malcolm Turnbull (who has already been proven wrong repeatedly when predicting HC outcomes).
The fact is that there are 2 coalition members (Julia King & Alex Hawke) who have dark clouds hanging over their heads, and there is no justifiable reason why they should not be referred to the High Court.
The fates of the ALP candidates will all be determined by the Katy Gallagher test case. It could be that all 4 of them will be disqualified, or none of them. Gallagher has already been referred to the HC, and there's no point in referring the other members as their cases are functionally identical. All 4 lodged the (correct) paperwork for renouncing their dual citizenships between the issuing of the election writs and the closing of nominations. All 4 received the official notification that their renunciations had been processed after the election. What's the point in paying 4 sets of lawyers, when the same decision will inevitably be reached in all 4 cases? Surely that would just be a huge waste of taxpayers' money? Let the HC decide one test case (Katy Gallagher), and the others will automatically know their fates as soon as the HC makes its determination.
The NXT member (Sharkie) is also subject to the same circumstances as the ALP group, so her fate will also be determined by the Gallagher precedent.
Turnbull's refusal to refer King & Hawke is down to political gamesmanship, the same games that Shorten was playing until Feeney & Gallagher were (far too belatedly) referred to the HC. There is no high ground here. Both leaders are occupying the low ground, both looking grubby and dirty in their desire to play political games rather than doing "the right thing" by the Australian people.

