On the Citizenship saga

Greg Poropat writes: Re.”Constitutional games showed this government is breathtakingly incompetent” (Monday)

Barnaby Joyce has proclaimed that because after the 2016 election he was declared to be the Member for New England, until the High Court’s decision last Friday he was entitled to be that as well as a Minister of the Crown and the Deputy Prime Minister. But at paragraph 111 of its decision, the High Court unanimously held that “At the date of his nomination Mr Joyce MP was incapable of being chosen or sitting as a member of the House of Representatives”.

At paragraph 139 the Court held that “in the event that Mr Joyce MP was incapable of being chosen as a member of the House of Representatives, the election of Mr Joyce MP was void”. These are the simplest of facts. Mr. Joyce, no longer MP, was incapable, and therefore not entitled, to sit as a member of the House of Representatives, he was not elected to the Parliament and these circumstances have existed throughout the term of this Parliament. Mr. Joyce’s statements are wrong.

While some rejoice in the de-Joyceing of the Parliament, matters arising from this are far from finished. While there might be challenges to some of the decisions he made while representing himself to have an authority and standing that the High Court has said he was incapable of having, there also are the not trivial matters of his use of taxpayer resources and monies that he was not empowered to use to influence and determine public policy that he was not empowered to either influence or determine as a Member of Parliament, Minister or acting Prime Minister. The candidate for New England’s claims should not go unchallenged.