Thread by @NearlyTheNews

Hey #auspol I know you're focused on #qldvotes but I’m ready for a 100-tweet balls-out thread about #citizenshit. Wanna help me to bring down this crapulous collection of nongs, chancers and half-wits known as the Australian government?

Okay, no-one said “no” so let’s do it! This thread *will* bring down the government, but you need to follow me down some rabbit holes and RT like the government depends on it. Let's start by looking at section 44 of the constitution. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_4…

The key clause is:
Any person who is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power shall be incapable of being chosen ...

This will take some time. I’ll start by softening up the target, then I’ll carry out a strafing run over the government trenches, taking aim at some specific targets. Finally, I’ll gain a bit of height and drop a cluster bomb on the survivors.

But first, who am I and why do I care? I’m Australian. I could probably get a European passport as well. I’m a member of a political party but not very active. I don’t like that some people in parliament think they can ignore or dodge the constitution.

I’m a bit Aspy and manic-depressive and PTSD its exhausting frankly. A few Sundays ago the PTSD didn’t want to go out, the m-d was frantic and the Aspy wanted a repetitive cerebral problem to solve, so I created a database of Australian federal MPs.

It took me a few days to plug in the biographical data I could find for all of them, then I branched out to Twitter and news media. Finally, I ran a “hot or not” filter to see which MPs were likely to be waved through by the High Court. Amazeballs!

Okay folks, this #auspol #citizenshit is about to get real, so I'll give you a few minutes to put the popcorn on. If you want to let the @abcnews know, or @SBSNews or @GuardianAus or your favourite commercial network, go ahead.

Let’s go back and look at the section 44 deadbeats first. The High Court has, since the last election, considered 11 cases of potential dual citizenship and ruled nine of them, 82%, were actual real live dual citizens. Only two MPs scraped through.

Nick Xenophon had renounced his potential Greek citizenship, but he was also dobbed in for potentially being a Pom. The video ref ruled him safe: Nick the X is a bit too woggy to be British.
adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-aus…

The other MP to get home was @mattjcan. His mother applied for Italian citizenship for the entire family during a period when papa Canavan was on trial for fraud. Somehow, Matt was ruled not to be Italian even though he is, because mum.
news.com.au/finance/work/l…

There are more than 226 stories in this parliament, and those are just two of them. At least 40 MPs from the lower house have questions to answer. If you’ve got tips, even tips you think are crazy, please send them in. You may think “everyone must know this already” but no.

Even though I’ve clocked more than 60 potential dual citizens in parliament, I reckon I’ve missed heaps. My database has a lot of blanks. I think there are at least another 20 lower house MPs who might be dual citizens. Let me know who they are.

I didn’t wake up today and decide to bring down the government. I’ve been working on this for weeks.

And I didn’t set out to bring down the government when I started, I just thought I could sing along when the dual citizens announced their hand.

But I’m no longer to wait for “someone” to “do something” about this. After this week, I don’t trust the government. They lied about #ManusIsland and they decided to dodge parliamentary show and tell, even though cabinet will be in Canberra for “duck and cover” exercises.

Excuse me for being Mr Suspicious, but when a PM doesn’t want to take credit for a “success” like the #SSM vote, something’s wrong. He even revised the dates for parliamentary “show and tell” after agreeing that everything would be released on Friday. smh.com.au/federal-politi…

There’s speculation that pushing back the dates for show and tell means suspect MPs can’t be referred to the High Court until February. That would suck great big hairy dog balls. As I’m about to show you, the government can’t survive.

I’ve offered this story to several news groups and MPs, although not the biggest groups because I’m sure they know all this. The responses were of two types:
1. yeahna, not now
2. *crickets*

I'm not prepared to let the parliamentary process grind on, because it sprang a gear last week. I'm not prepared to give this to the meeja because they know already, or they should.

I'll let the artillery bang away overnight, and in the morning I'm starting the bombing run.

I said I had a list of “MPs most likely to be dual citizens”. There are three Labor MPs on that list: the three rookies MPs Malcolm Turnbull already said were going to the High Court. dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/high-…

Recently, Turnbull sent letters to Madeleine King, Justine Keay and Josh Wilson, all Labor rookies who sent renunciation papers before the election but nominated before receiving confirmation.

Most Labor MPs have declared publicly that they have sorted out their citizenship. King, Keay and Wilson all renounced British citizenship, but the paperwork arrived after they nominated.

I saw this after my "hot or not" analysis. King, Keay and Wilson were the only three Labor MPs on it.

Does an MP have an identified potential dual citizenship issue? If yes, have they made any statement/shown any homework? Answer Yes to the first question, No to the second, and you’re on the list.

The criteria may seem pretty lax, but many MPs with possible s. 44 conflicts have shown their hand: Bill Shorten, Penny Wong, Ian Goodenough, Matthias Cormann, Richard di Natale, Peter Whish-Wilson, and Lucy Gichuhi have all made public declarations, as has Tony Abbott.

Remember, we’ve seen two lower house MPs (of 150) rubbed out and nine senators (of 76) questioned. That may be because there are more minor parties in the senate, with fewer checks, which means more problems, but there are probably other Reps to fall.

Senators can be swapped like light-bulbs, no electrician or election required. The House of Reps is where it counts. The government stands or falls in the lower house. On the evidence available, the government *will* fall.

We’ll going to have an election after parliamentary show and tell. My “hot or not” analysis found three Labor MPs likely to be rubbed out, along with two from minor parties and about ten from the Coalition. The government won’t have the numbers in the house.

There are other MPs who deserve to be on the list, but I haven't had time. Anyway, if the government's lost too many MPs to win a vote on the floor, does it matter exactly how many of it's MPs are about to get flushed? Not really.

If *all* the MPs on my “hot or not” list are kicked out of the House, we'll have a House of 135 for a while. The government will have about 65 during the by-elections, and Labor will have about 67. There will still be three cross-benchers.

The fourth MP who knows she will face a by-election is Rebekah Sharkie of the NXT. The AEC has even begun preparations for an election in her seat of Mayo, even though she hasn’t yet resigned. h/t @workmanalice

Do we need to review the High Court's reasoning so far? The key point to remember is: you don't need to *apply* for citizenship to be ruled out. @JacquiLambie doesn't have a Scottish passport, or a British one.

Let’s start with Julia Banks in Chisholm, one of the most vulnerable. Her father migrated from Greece. Her brother has Greek citizenship. Twitter reports the Greek embassy in Oz has said she’s not a dual citizen, but that’s irrelevant.

Ann Sudmalis in Gilmore is another Liberal in NSW on a skinny margin. Her mother was born in the UK. That could be a second Labor win from the Libs. See, the government's already lost its majority.

The Libs seem to have a blind spot for parental inheritance. Barnaby Joyce Stephen Parry were both ruled ineligible because they hadn’t renounced citizenship inherited through their parents. It’s fair to say their processes aren’t as good as Labor’s.

Most others possible duals are on healthy margins, although it’s worth mentioning Jason Falinski. He hit the citizenship jackpot. According to Twitter, he could be entitled to British, Irish, Polish, Kyrgyz and Russian citizenship. Oh, and Australian.

You might not expect these next two names: Bob Katter and Barnaby Joyce. Bob Katter’s grandfather was born in Lebanon, and so Bob allegedly still has the right to Lebanese citizenship, which is handed down two generations on the father’s side.

Another Twitter theory is that it was Bob’s great-grandfather who emigrated to Australia. That would put Bob one step beyond the citizenship threshold.

If you see me posting 'your' info and you want props, post it as a reply. I'm not trying to take credit, this is a team effort.

Yes, Barnaby was found to have been a dual citizen of New Zealand, and hopefully he remembered to renounce his Kiwi citizenship before launching his campaign *the very day* the High Court ruled him out. abc.net.au/news/2017-10-2…

Although Barnaby hit the ground running, he doesn’t seem to be campaigning very hard any more. Maybe he has family issues to sort out, and of course he had to prepare to receive the Gina Rinehart Who’s A Good Boy Then? Award, Twitter has also raised another question.

Is Barnaby still entitled to British citizenship, which he presumably hasn’t renounced?

This is *really* speculative. I'm not confident of this at all.

I need to take a break to prep the next bit.

Let’s look at few others. Steve Ciobo (Moncrieff, LNP) has Italian heritage, so does Ross Vasta (LNP, Bonner). Alex Hawke’s (Lib, Mitchell) grandparents migrated from Greece. Alan Tudge (Lib, Aston) was born on the Isle of Man.

For a counter-example, Paul Fletcher (Lib, Bradfield) was born in the UK but he says he’s given up his British citizenship, so he’s not on the list.

This list might seem one-sided because it mostly concerns Coalition MPs. The Labor party appears to have better processes. Many of their MPs have said publicly they’re sweet, mate. I’m not surprised Bill Shorten is doing his nut about being locked out of parliament.

The Greens have fessed up. Two of them resigned, Richard di Natale showed his papers, Peter Whish-Wilson (born Singapore) has publicly declared he has dealt with his issues. However, that brings us to the Senate.

As senators fall over, they are replaced with little fuss, by the next person in line. That could be a problem for One Nation in Queensland. They stood four candidates and one has already been found to be an alien. His replacement Fraser Anning is now independent.

The only spare candidate they have in Queensland is Judy Smith, Pauline's sister. That matters because both of them are likely dual citizens. We're going to need @AntonyGreenABC now, because idk what happens after that.

Do you remember when @PaulineHansonOz said she was going to migrate to the UK, but then found London too multicultural? This: "Ms Hanson's father is English and her mother's family is Irish, which means she can hold dual citizenship."
smh.com.au/national/i-won…

I'm not going to worry about any more senators, because in most cases they can be swapped without fuss. As I said, the house counts for more than the Senate.

Okay, I'm out of fuel and ammo after that strafing run. I'm going to refuel and load the Little Boy.

I'm not keen on dropping this nuke. It's going to make a hell of a mess. Let me think about it.

Let's recap quickly. A lot more government MPs look shaky. In every conceivable scenario, the government loses control of the House, with or w/o an election.

Maybe that's enough.

How do I know all this? Because I spent weeks researching. It started as an intellectual exercise and then I found more and more, it just doesn't stop.
Why hasn't it been reported in the media? One or two bits have.
Will it make any difference? That's up to you. Spread the word.

This list might seem one-sided because it mostly concerns Coalition MPs. The Labor party appears to have better processes. Many of their MPs have said publicly they’re sweet, mate. I’m not surprised Bill Shorten is doing his nut about being locked out of parliament.

The Greens have fessed up. Two of them resigned, Richard di Natale showed his papers, Peter Whish-Wilson (born Singapore) has publicly declared he has dealt with his issues. However, that brings us to the Senate.

As senators fall over, they are replaced with little fuss, by the next person in line. That could be a problem for One Nation in Queensland. They stood four candidates and one has already been found to be an alien. His replacement Fraser Anning is now independent.

The only spare candidate they have in Queensland is Judy Smith, Pauline's sister. That matters because both of them are likely dual citizens. We're going to need @AntonyGreenABC now, because idk what happens after that.

Do you remember when @PaulineHansonOz said she was going to migrate to the UK, but then found London too multicultural? This: "Ms Hanson's father is English and her mother's family is Irish, which means she can hold dual citizenship." smh.com.au/national/i-won…

I'm not going to worry about any more senators, because in most cases they can be swapped without fuss. As I said, the house counts for more than the Senate.

Okay, I'm out of fuel and ammo after that strafing run. I'm going to refuel and load the big bomb.

I'm not keen on dropping this payload. It's going to make a hell of a mess.

Let's recap quickly. A lot more government MPs look shaky. In every conceivable scenario, the government loses control of the House, with or w/o an election.

Maybe that's enough.

How do I know all this? Because I spent weeks researching. It started as an intellectual exercise and then I found more and more, it just doesn't stop.
Why hasn't it been reported in the media? One or two bits have.
Will it make any difference? That's up to you. Spread the word.

I'm just re-upping this #auspol thread, which broke at one point. Apologies for not numbering the tweets.

I reckon @TurnbullMalcolm knows he's about to fall and I'm concerned he'll take drastic action.

could you please unroll this for me?