Share and Follow
A Tasmanian Greens candidate has been forced to withdraw from the race after discovering he holds dual citizenship.
Owen Fitzgerald is ineligible to run under , which disqualifies dual citizens.
The 19-year-old, who was contesting the seat of Franklin in Tasmania, had to end his campaign on Wednesday morning after seeking legal advice over his citizenship status.
Greens senator Nick McKim told reporters Fitzgerald was unaware he automatically qualifies for citizenship because his father was born in New Zealand.
“Owen is very likely to be found to be ineligible to be chosen or sit as an MP by virtue of the fact that he is a New Zealand citizen, by descent,” he said on Wednesday.
“This has been a failure of our party’s candidate vetting processes, and it’s something that we’ll need to tighten up and make sure doesn’t happen in the future,” McKim said.
Fitzgerald, who was born in Australia, renounced his United Kingdom citizenship in 2024. His disclosure form reportedly states he is not a citizen of a country other than Australia.
While “disappointed” by the result, Fitzgerald said it was simply “a bump in the road for his political career”.
“I will be back fighting with the Greens and fighting for these issues and fighting for our environment and fighting for the people of Franklin,” he told reporters.
The Australian Electoral Commission has confirmed Fitzgerald’s name will appear on Franklin ballot papers, which are printed straight after the declarations of candidate nominations are made.
Votes cast for Fitzgerald will be distributed to other candidates once he is excluded from the count.
Given the closure of nominations, the Greens will be unable to run any additional candidates in the seat, which is held by Labor’s Julie Collins by a safe margin of 13.7 per cent.
Greens question ‘disgraceful’ section 44 provision
It is not the first time that section 44 of the constitution, which outlines what disqualifies you from nomination, has cast doubt over the eligibility of a politician.
In 2017, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was confirmed to be a dual citizen of New Zealand. Three months later, he was ruled ineligible to be a candidate by the High Court of Australia.
The citizenship saga forced eight senators and seven MPs to resign or be ruled ineligble by the High Court that year.
McKim said the provision was a “disgrace” in multicultural Australia, praising Fitzgerald’s campaign efforts.
“He’s campaigned with energy … He’s campaigned with courage. And I’m just so sorry that he’s fallen foul to section 44 of the constitution,” McKim said.
“It has no place in a modern, multicultural liberal democracy, and it should be struck out of the constitution.”
Stay informed with the latest election coverage from SBS News — visit our .
