Australian Attorney-General, Liberal Senator for Queensland and faux Queen's Counsel fails to convince there is a need to change Sec 44 of the Australian Constitution

Commonwealth of Australia Coat of Arms 1912

Now that the High Court of Australia has removed the Leader and Deputy Leader of Coalition partner, the National Party of Australia, it seems the next move by the Liberal Party is to change the rules governing federal elections.

This was Australian Attorney-General, Liberal Senator for Queensland and faux Queen’s Counsel, George Brandis, on 29 October 2017 according to Sky News:

Mr Brandis said while the government accepted the High Court ruling, Section 44 in its current form on citizenship 'is not suitable for a multicultural democracy'.

'Australia is one of the most successful multicultural society in the world…..It is an unusual situation that there should be a provision of our constitution... where there are doubts about the capacity or eligibility of potential millions of Australians to stand for parliament.'

In 1891 the first published headcount of the Australian population occurred. There were 3.17 million people resident in the country and of these 31.99 per cent were born overseas in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Polynesia and New Zealand.

In 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution which includes Section 44 (disqualification from nominating as a candidate in a federal election/by-election) was adopted and, and the censuses of Australian states were undertaken that same year.

On 31 March 1901 the total combined population of all Australian states was recorded as 3.77 million people with 22.24 per cent of this population identified as being born overseas in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Other Countries and New Zealand.

So right at the beginning of Federation this nation could rightly be considered a “multicultural democracy”.

However, one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the new federal parliament 1901 was the Immigration Restriction Act which was the basis of what became known as the “White Australia Policy”.

Ten years later in 1911 when another national census occurred 4.45 million people were recorded as resident within Australia. Despite immigration restrictions Australia was still maintaining a strong multicultural presence with 17.68 per cent of the population having been born overseas in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Polynesia and New Zealand.

In 1958 the "White Australia Policy" was finally dismantled for good and seventeen years after that the Racial Discrimination Act was pased.

At the 2016 national census there were 23.40 million people recorded as resident within Australia and 28.5 per cent of this population were born overseas in - you guessed it – Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Polynesia (now recorded as Oceania) and New Zealand.

It seems that – with a few hiccups along the way such as restricted immigration, two world wars and the Great Depression – cultural and ethnic diversity by way of immigration has always been a significant part of post-colonial Australian society.

If Senator Brandis wants to convince voters that the Constitution should be changed or additional legislation created, which would allow wannabe politicians free rein to decide to ignore holding dual citizenship and determine for themselves what they can declare or conceal from the electorate on their nomination forms, he will have to think of a better argument than the one he put forward to Sky News.