17 February 2019

The story of Greens candidate Tim Hollo’s 14-month quest to prove his eligibility to run for election demonstrates the need to scrap the absurd citizenship restrictions in section 44 of the Constitution. It is ridiculous to suggest that Hollo might be a Hungarian or Chinese sleeper agent because his Jewish parents were repeatedly forced to migrate, but that is what our Constitution says. We should adopt the New Zealand rule, which only bans MPs who take up a new citizenship after they are elected.