Folks, it’s starting to seem like this whole dual-citizenship dealio is becoming problematic. The latest head on the chopping block is Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg, who it turns out might hold Hungarian citizenship through his mother.
The news follows the resignation of Senate President Stephen Parry, who was revealed to be a British citizen, and the unceremonious booting of five MPs who the High Court deemed ineligible to serve. You might say that it is a deeply unpleasant time to be Malcolm Turnbull, and I’d certainly agree with you.
The basis for the current scoop, which was originally published by The Australian overnight, is that the Hungarian government automatically confers citizenship to every child born of a Hungarian parent. Frydenberg’s mother was born in Hungary in 1943.
But he has a defence, and it’s potentially a compelling one. Frydenberg’s mother and grandparents arrived in Australia in 1950, having fled the Holocaust. Frydenberg argues that they were stateless at this point thanks to the war in Europe.
“When my mother and her sisters and her parents entered Australia after the war their status was ‘stateless’,” he told Fairfax Media. “It is absurd to think that I could involuntarily acquire citizenship of a foreign country from a stateless mother and grandparents.”
Hungary’s fascist government passed laws in 1939 which deemed all Jews ‘aliens’, so there’s also a legitimate question of whether Frydenberg’s mother was a Hungarian citizen at all. Historian Jayne Persian, who writes on European refugees in Australia, backed this assertion on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/jypersian/status/926070090604228609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Ffederal-politics%2Fpolitical-news%2Fsenior-liberal-minister-josh-frydenberg-seeks-answers-over-possible-hungarian-citizenship-20171102-gzdwmr.html
Either way, Frydenberg is reportedly looking into his legal status and what his options are.
It’s also giving fuel to calls for an citizenship audit, which makes intuitive sense, but has been strenuously resisted on both sides of the political fence in Parliament. Though some pollies – like Eric Abetz, for example – are in favour, it’s not getting a lot of love from either the Coalition or Labor.
My lord, this is possibly one of the stupidest political scandals that has engulfed any country, anywhere. Dissolve Parliament and start again, in my opinion.
