CANBERRA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- An Australian senator who overnight resigned from his cabinet position after finding out he was a dual citizen may not have to quit parliament, his party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Wednesday.
Matt Canavan, senator for the Nationals Party, resigned from his position as resources minister and minister for Northern Australia overnight, after finding out that his mother secretly lodged documents for him to become an Italian dual citizen back in 2006.
He is the third senator in two weeks to have discovered they were dual citizens, after two Greens senators, Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam found out they are citizens of Canada and New Zealand, respectively. Under Australian law, dual citizens cannot serve in parliament.
However, unlike the Greens pair, Canavan has not resigned from parliament because he and Joyce believed because his mother, not himself, did the paperwork, the dual citizenship may not be valid.
Speaking to the press in Canberra on Wednesday, the deputy PM said the "sloppy" Canavan may be free to reclaim his cabinet position, pending an investigation from the High Court.
"That still has to be checked, that it's actually valid, because the premise being can you be signed up for something you never signed up for, that you never knew about?" Joyce said.
"The High Court will look at this and we'll accept the verdict of the High Court."
When announcing his resignation as resources minister overnight, Canavan said he was confident that he would be able to remain in parliament considering he never signed any paperwork.
"I was not born in Italy, have never been to Italy, and have never even stepped into an Italian embassy," he said overnight.
"In 2006, my mother lodged documents as the consulate in Brisbane to become an Italian citizen. In doing so, it would appear she also made an application for me."
Canavan will serve on the back bench until the High Court's decision is handed down.
