Australia loses 9th legislator in citizenship crisis
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An Australian senator who is British by descent has become the ninth lawmaker to leave Parliament over a 116-year-old constitutional ban on dual nationals running for office that threatens to bring down the government.
Skye Kakoschke-Moore is a member of the Nick Xenophon Team minor party. She said Wednesday she discovered she was British while gathering evidence ahead of a December deadline for Australia-born senators to provide documented proof that they had not inherited the citizenship of an immigrant parent or grandparent.
She will resign when the Senate resumes next week.
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The ruling conservative coalition could lose two House of Representative seats in by-elections next month over inherited citizenship.
Australia is rare if not unique in the world in banning dual nationals from sitting in Parliament.