SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced plans on Monday to force all lawmakers to declare they are not dual nationals as he seeks to defuse a political crisis that saw his deputy ejected from parliament.
Turnbull’s center-right coalition government was thrown into disarray last month when the High Court ruled that five lawmakers who were dual nationals, including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, were ineligible for parliament.
The Australian leader has been facing down calls since for a full audit of parliamentarians to ensure they comply with the country’s constitution, which bars foreign nationals from sitting in parliament to prevent split allegiances.
The High Court ruling expelled three members of the Liberal-National coalition government from parliament, while a fourth resigned days later after confirming he also had dual nationality. The other affected lawmakers were from minority parties, with the main opposition Labour Party yet to be ensnared.
Turnbull said his plan, unlike an audit, would put the onus on lawmakers to check their own situation and anybody found to have made a false declaration would be in contempt of parliament. Lawmakers will be required to produce documents to prove any second citizenship has been renounced.
“Members and senators have been put squarely on notice now and so they will be turning their mind to their own affairs and the issues of citizenship,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
The new laws would apply to both existing and prospective lawmakers. Those already in parliament would be given 21 days to make a declaration from the date it comes into force, while new lawmakers would have the same period of time from their swearing in.
Turnbull said he hoped to push the changes through parliament in the last remaining sitting days this year. That will require support from the Labour Party, which suggested a similar plan last week.
Turnbull has said previously that the court’s interpretation of the constitution was “very strict.” He has flagged potential changes to the constitution, noting that more than half of Australia’s population of 24 million was either born overseas or has a parent who was born overseas. A referendum would be needed to change the constitution.
All seven lawmakers in the High Court case, two of whom were cleared to remain in parliament, accepted that they were dual nationals at the time of their election but claimed they were unaware of their status. Some were conferred a second nationality by birth, others by descent.
Australian PM to force lawmakers to declare citizenship to end political crisis
Australian PM to force lawmakers to declare citizenship to end political crisis
Mine collapse in eastern Congo leaves 200 dead, authorities say, but rebels dispute the number
- Senior M23 official Fanny Kaj disputed the figure, saying that the collapse was caused by “bombings”
- Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner at the site, said that he had helped to recover more than 200 bodies from the area
GOMA, Congo: A mine collapse at a major coltan mining site in eastern Congo left at least 200 dead, according to Congolese authorities, a number disputed by the rebel group that controls the mine.
The collapse took place Tuesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebel group, Congo’s Ministry of Mines said in a statement on Wednesday. It was the latest such tragedy in the mineral-rich and rebel-controlled territories of the country.
But senior M23 official Fanny Kaj disputed the figure, saying that the collapse was caused by “bombings” and only five people had been killed.
“I can confirm that what people are publishing is not true. There was no landslide; there were bombings, and the death toll isn’t what people are saying. It’s simply about five people who died,” Kaj said.
Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner at the site, said that he had helped to recover more than 200 bodies from the area.
“We are afraid, but these are lives that are in danger,” said Taluseke. “The owners of the pits do not accept that the exact number of deaths be revealed.”
Rubaya lies in the heart of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich part of the Central African nation which for decades has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23 group, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict, worsening an already acute humanitarian crisis.
Congo is a major supplier of coltan, a black metallic ore that contains the rare metal tantalum, a key component in the production of smartphones, computers and aircraft engines.
The country produced about 40 percent of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the US Geological Survey, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being other big suppliers. More than 15 percent of the world’s supply of tantalum comes from Rubaya’s mines.
In May 2024, M23 seized the town and took control of its mines. According to a UN report, since seizing Rubaya, the rebels have imposed taxes on the trade and transport of coltan, generating at least $800,000 a month.
Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades. Various conflicts have created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than 7 million people displaced, including more than 300,000 who have fled their homes since December.
In June, the Congolese and Rwandan government signed a peace deal brokered by the US and negotiations continue between rebels and Congo. However, fighting continues on several fronts in eastern Congo, continuing to claim numerous civilian and military casualties.
The deal between Congo and Rwanda also opens up access to critical minerals for the US government and American companies.
A similar collapse last month killed more than 200 people.
