The Greens’ Senator Larissa Waters has announced she is quitting parliament after she discovered she holds dual citizenship and is ineligible to sit in parliament.
Senator Waters was born in Canada, her Australian parents who were studying overseas and returned to Australia when she was a baby. She has not returned to Canada since she was 11 months old.
The shock announcement comes just days after Western Australian colleague Scott Ludlam announced his resignation after it was revealed he had never renounced his New Zealand citizenship.
Senator Waters said she was shocked and saddened to discover that she held dual citizenship.
“I had not renounced since I was unaware that I was a dual citizen. Obviously this is something that I should have sought advice on when I first nominated for the Senate in 2007, and I take full responsibility for this grave mistake and oversight,” Senator Waters said this morning.
Within a week the party has lost both of its Deputy leaders and two of their most respected performers in parliament. The resignations will leave The Greens with two less votes in the parliament until the Court of Disputed Returns can make a ruling on the vacancies.
Senator Waters entered the parliament in 2011.
OIP Staff
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