Cranky Lizard does not have much to say this month.
Having allegiance to our Sovereign State of The Commonwealth of Australia.
A matter which has captured Cranky Lizard’s thinking this week.
Section 44 of the Australian Constitution reads as follows:-
“ 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 or of sitting as a Senator or a Member of the House of Representatives. “
There it is. Simple language setting out the requirements to be a Member of the Australian Parliament.
This is not hard to understand – not difficult at all.
Cranky Lizard wonders why we have had to bear the cost of this nonsense at all?
But we have had to bear the cost of the High Court hearings, and now we have to incur the costs of five By-Elections throughout our land.
Cranky Lizard does not comment on how you should consider this disgraceful waste of resources when you are in the privacy of your Polling Booth.
Cranky Lizard does comment on one of the findings of the Parliamentary Committee established to examine his matter.
One of the recommendations of this Committee was that the Parliament should conduct a Referendum of Australian Citizens so that Section 44 of the Constitution is changed to make it easier to be in Parliament – in other words, do away with, or dilute, the “ dual citizenship “ restriction!
What kind of politicians are we producing?
Rather than comply with a simple administrative condition regarding allegiance to the Commonwealth of Australia, they seem prepared to discard the notion of loyalty in favour of some contrived, bureaucratic ‘ deus ex machina ‘. This is an ideal literary device, “ a machine of God “, designed, in this particular case, to spirit away the burden of proving your Australian Citizenship.
What absolute bloody nonsense?
This is not the stuff of Referendums; this is just a matter of adequately preparing yourself to be a Member of the Australian Parliament.
At least one of the justifications given by this Committee for calling a Referendum was that the multi-cultural nature of our modern society might make it difficult for some aspiring politicians to comply.
Have you ever heard such wimpish nonsense?
If you are unable to prove your Australian Citizenship or if you are unable to confirm that you have no other citizenship issues with a foreign power; then simple, you are not eligible to be elected into the Australian Parliament.
As the Meerkat says , “ Simple.”