Senate President Stephen Parry will resign after dual citizenship confirmed

Senate President Stephen Parry will resign after the UK Home Office confirmed he is a British citizen.

Senate President Senator Stephen Parry attends Senate Estimates

Liberal senator Stephen Parry will quit politics if British authorities find he is a dual citizen. (AAP) Source: AAP

Senate President Stephen Parry will resign after the UK Home Office confirmed he is a British citizen.

Senator Parry revealed on Tuesday he may be a dual citizenship as his father was born in the UK. He confirmed this was the case on Wednesday.

Senator Parry said he would be submitting his resignation as Senate president and Senator for Tasmania to the Governor-General on Wednesday.

"With a heavy heart I inform you that I have received advice from the British Home Office that I am a British citizen by virtue of my father's birthplace, thereby being a dual citizen under the provisions of the Australian Constitution," Senator Parry said in a statement.
"Because my departure is rapid and an unexpected event, I will not have the usual opportunity to address you [my colleagues] in the Senate one last time.

"I wish to thank all of you as colleagues, many of whom I regard as good friends - from all quarters of the chamber - for your support and confidence in me."

Senator Parry has served as President and Deputy President of the Senate for more than six years.

His father moved to Australia from the UK in 1951. 

In his maiden speech, Senator Parry said he was 'Tasmanian by birth and [came] from a line of many generations of Tasmanians'.

"In fact, I am a descendant of the First Fleet convicts who arrived on 26 January 1788 onboard the ships the 'Scarborough' and the 'Prince of Wales'," he said in August 2005.

"I left home at the age of 16 - much to the joy of my mother, I think - joining the Tasmanian police force as one of their youngest ever recruits.

"After 10 years as a police officer, I became a funeral director, eventually buying the long-standing family business with my wife, Allison."

Senator Parry is the eighth politician to be caught up in Australia's dual citizenship saga. Five others - including former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce - were declared ineligible to serve in parliament by the High Court last week.

A by-election will be held in Mr Joyce's former seat of New England on December 2.


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By Nilgün Kılıç


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