How a dual citizenship crisis befell an immigrant nation

How a dual citizenship crisis befell an immigrant nation

First two Australian senators resigned on learning they held citizenship of New Zealand and Canada.
Then a third stood down from his cabinet post on discovering that although he had never even been there, he was a citizen of Italy.

The past two weeks have been a minefield of frenzied activity from elected Australian politicians as they check if they hold dual nationality. It's all been done under the suddenly menacing shadow of the 116-year-old Section 44 of the nation's constitution, which forbids anyone holding citizenship of another country from running for parliament.

It's an issue which says much about Australia as an immigrant nation, as federal MPs who were born overseas - 25 of them in total - have raced to check which country, or countries, count them as citizens.
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