Petition EN0038 is with Senator Ryan to be answered by about the 20th of May 2017.
I first asked about Tony Abbott's British citizenship because I was born in England in the same year as him and when he became Prime Minister I was curious about his citizenship and renunciation of British citizenship because there was nothing in any of the official and unofficial biographies about him.
So I emailed him and waited. No reply, not even an automated response.
I then contacted the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet asking how to do an FOI request to get a look at the renunciation paperwork. I figured out he had to have the paperwork to comply with the constitution so it would be in pride of place in his office.
It wasn't, in fact his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin replied to me saying she would become the FOI clerk should I dare submit an FOI. And she would refuse to give any information.
Others put in an FOI request when Abbott and Credlin were in London and got a response saying the documentation doesn't exist. That is here, or the FOI to look at the FOI is here. Because the original FOI didn't find any documentation it isn't listed in the PM&C FOI register which is a pity because it is such an important piece of information.
Change the system started a change.org petition to ask Mr Abbott to show he has renounced his British citizenship. It got over 33,000 signatures when it was presented to Bill Shorten, leader of the opposition, his deputy Tanya Plibersek and to the Greens member in the House of Representatives, Adam Bandt. All three did exactly nothing with the petition. Any normal person would think that 33,000 signatures asking for a politician to ask a question in parliament would be huge news. They didn't bother.
I read up about petitions and lodged one in the House of Representatives, it is here. Senator Cormann replied by telling the world that the law says MPs must obey the law and if they don't then go to the Court of Disputed Returns. Pfft to you Matty Cormann, sort of knew the law that's why a petition was lodged.
Senator Cormann said we must believe candidates when they tick the form on the Australian Electoral Commission nomination form where it says they comply with S44 of the constitution. He also said if they didn't do that then the only recourse was to go to the Court of Disputed Returns and petition them. That CODR is limited to voters in the seat where the MP lied to get into parliament. A candidate in Warringah tried that but ended up in a mental hospital, was committed on the way to the High Court in Sydney to lodge with the court of disputed returns.
I doubt Abbott or the Liberal Party had anything to do with the committal but someone did. Perhaps just doing their mate Abbott a favour, or doing something to protect their hero. The candidate may be a loony, but standing for election doesn't look like the sort of thing a lunatic would consider. Anyhow, a person was kept in a mental institution for 3 months and released without reason or apology.
Have I mentioned I had 5 death threats up until yesterday when another on twitter decided they were going to have a go. All are with the Federal Police and this latest got an abject apology quite quickly.
So I lodged another petition, a new fangled e-petition. Doc Jensen was a complete waste of space and oxygen as a parliamentarian but he did bring in the e-petition system, which is quite brilliant. Petition EN0038 is here.
The petition was blocked in the committee phase by Mr Vasta presumably as part of the Abbott protection society so I called on my Queensland senators and my local MP Andrew Wallace. Mr Wallace wrote and advised he had spoken with Mr Vasta and the petition is now going to Senator Ryan for an answer. Hopefully Senator Ryan will read this and realise the petitioners know the petition system, know the law and realise the law doesn't work.
Petitions throughout history have shown that asking a member of parliament to look at asking a question does work and I trust we will finally get an answer about Mr Abbott's dual citizenship.
Well sometimes they work. Petition PN0004, the one about his Australian Citizenship application being filled in by mum, seems Peter Dutton doesn't understand English. Only answered a little bit of the petition. The answer is here.
The petition is below. I have lodged another petition to get Peter Dutton to actually answer the petition.
In April the United Kingdom started to kick into shape. Been asking UK Home Office for details of his renunciation. They say they can not confirm he complies with our constitution but also say they can neither confirm nor deny he has renounced his British citizenship. In 2014/15 a Tom Holland took the FOI process through the information commissioner and into the UK court system. I am in the process of doing the same. Tom Holland had his knocked back because the court said they could not examine compliance with the Australian constitution because it is Australian. The constitution is British law so I have gone to their court system arguing they can examine that and since Mr Holland's attempt the public interest has skyrocketed.
The court asked for a copy of a phone call to Abbott's off ice in January 2015, the audio file I sent didn't play in the UK so I sent a transcript.
The transcript is here
Transcript of phone
call to Mr Abbott’s Parliament House office
PM office:- Good morning Prime Ministers office Diana
speaking
Me:- Hi Diana my name is Tony Magrathea I make a
phone call everyday to find out about replies to letters I have sent and Teri
Butler has sent’
PM office:- and what
are the letters in regard to sir
Me:- Mr Abbott’s
renunciation of British citizenship papers
PM office:-I am not
going to transfer you through to the department but I will advise you that the
request you are asking is ludicrous and we will not be answering. Because the
Prime Minister is the Prime Minister and he is an Australian citizen and that
is as far as the conversation is going.
Me:- wait a sec I ‘ll just let you know I am
recording this for any senate inquiry
PM office:- you have
already had a response sir. You have
been provided with a response from the department. I am not going to get into a discussion with
you sir, about this.
Me:- What about the FOI
PM office:- You have had a response
Me:- from whom
PM office:- You have
had a response from the department we have discussed it with the department
when you called.
Me:- no I haven’t had a
response from the department, that’s why I keep ringing every day.
PM office:- Well you
have sir
Me:- send me a copy of
the response. The only thing I have is a copy of an FOI saying the renunciation
papers do not exist.
PM office:- And that’s
the information that has been provided as a response to your correspondence. It’s a ludicrous question sir and I am not
going to have this discussion with you.
Me:- this is being recorded and will be published
PM office:- publish
whatever you would like. Thank you
I have not had a reply
from Mr Abbott about my request for a copy of his renunciation papers. In early January 2014 his chief of staff Peta
Credlin told me if I lodged an FOI she would become FOI clerk and refuse the
application. Later in 2014 Jan Olsen
lodged an FOI with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, it is that
document being discussed as the FOI in the phone call. Ms Olsen is apolitical activist who was
arrest in the House of Representatives demanding Mr Abbott show his
renunciation papers.
I was given a copy of
that FOI from Jan Olsen not the department.
That FOI is part of my submission. If you have been keeping up with this you will have seen the FOI Jan Olsen got, thats the one we are talking about.
Below are some links to newspaper coverage and
online discussion. The online newspapers
are interesting in their comments sections, it shows there is a great deal of
public interest. I have included some
media coverage which calls what I was trying to do a birther issue. There are
links to the nomination hand book and petitions to parliament and to
politicians. The Sky link to Hinch's show doesn't work, Sky has removed the video.
Phone
call to Mr Abbotts office which seems to indicate he FOI
above is true.
Terri
Butler MP wrote to Mr Abbott in January 2015 asking for him
to show he has renounced his British citizenship. He didn’t bother replying to
a fellow member of parliament
Woman
threatens Tony Abbott in parliament, this was the woman who
lodged the FOI above – she went there to ask in parliament fro him to show he
had renounced his British citizenship and was arrested.
Facebook
page Tony Abbott worst PM in history a page that once had
350,000 members
Abbott
fail
again Facebook 45,000
Tony
Abbott lies Facebook 15,000
Skynews
a show by Mr Hinch before becoming Senator Hinch
Oxford
FOI
entered as British citizen against rules of Rhodes Trust
A
blog about the Chair of the Petitions Committee
hiding a petition this parliament
The
next blog after the chair, Mr Vasta, was reminded about the crime
of compounding a crime under Australian law. My local MP
a member of his same party was a barrister before becoming an MP.
Another
blog
about Mr Abbotts Australian citizenship problems.
A
link to petitions hidden by the previous
parliament. Nearly
every petition presented since 2008 has been referred to a minster for answer,
except mine about Mr Abbott.
Some documentation relating to Mr Abbott.
Petition EN0038,
originally hidden then sent to Senator Ryan for response.
If you find links that don't work please put a note in the comments. If you have others that might be of interest please put in the comments
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An oldie but a goodie - - MP3 file phone call to Abbotts office where staff adivse the FOI is right - the renunciatino papers do not exist https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B42C_wWg31otMFBVOWJRNUlPVVE/view?usp=sharing
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