Liberal MP Julia Banks may be a dual Greek-Australian citizen and ineligible to sit in Parliament, according to one of Australia’s top constitutional experts.
The loss of Ms Banks would force a byelection and potentially threaten the Turnbull government’s control on power.
Ms Banks won the marginal seat of Chisholm with 51.2 per cent of the two-party preferred vote at the 2016 election. It was the only seat won by the Liberal Party from Labor in the federal election and the Turnbull government holds power in the lower house by just one seat.
If a byelection was held, Labor would fancy its chances of reclaiming the seat. That would mean the Turnbull government held just 75 seats in the 150 member house and would need to rely on the crossbench, including a number of independent MPs, to hold government.
Labor’s Victorian headquarters is bubbling with excitement over the Banks predicament.
One senior ALP official said he understood Liberal state director Simon Frost had been recalled from leave in anticipation of a Chisholm byelection.
Source: Doubts grow over citizenship status of Greek-born Liberal MP Julia Banks
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