After Gallagher’s High Court dual citizenship decision: Sharkie, Keay, Wilson, Lamb resign

Following Labor Senator Katy Gallagher’s disqualification from Parliament, four MPs with the same predicament have resigned. Labor MPs Justine Keay, Josh Wilson and Susan Lamb, and Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie all resigned at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Sharkie resigned following the High Court’s decision to render Gallagher ineligible to hold office on Wednesday. Moments later, the three Labor members also announced their resignation. The government said that anyone who had questions over their dual citizenship should resign by the day’s end.

All four had the same defence as Gallagher in their dual citizenship case. Earlier in the day, the High Court determined that the Labor senator was ineligible for Parliament because the defence of taking “all steps reasonably required” did not apply to her. It would only apply if the country that the person is renouncing their citizenship from has a law that “irremediably prevents” the person from doing so. Gallagher, being a dual British citizen, did not have the same irremediable impediment.

The decision is expected to be the new precedent for dual citizenship cases as stated in section 44 of the Australian Constitution.

With Gallagher disqualified and now four more quitting their positions, there will be a total of five by-elections coming up. The fifth one is for Labor’s Tim Hammond, who is resigning for family reasons.