Australia's Joyce to Return as Deputy Leader After Election Win

(Bloomberg) -- Barnaby Joyce will return to parliament as Australia's deputy prime minister after winning a special election on Saturday, five weeks after he was forced to step down for being a dual national in breach of the constitution.

Joyce, 50, claimed victory in the rural seat of New England, winning 63 percent of the vote to 11 percent for his nearest rival in early counting.

The result is a reprieve for the Liberal-National coalition government and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has been under fire for his handling of the citizenship crisis that's so far seen nine lawmakers across a variety of parties run afoul of the constitution.

Read more: How the citizenship fiasco cost Turnbull his majority

The fiasco cost Turnbull his lower-house majority, when Joyce and another government lawmaker, John Alexander, stepped down. Polls show Alexander faces a fiercer battle to reclaim his seat of Bennelong in Sydney in a Dec. 16 special election.

The crisis has eroded Turnbull's authority, and tensions have erupted in the coalition during Joyce's absence, with some of his National lawmakers criticizing the prime minister's leadership.

Joyce's victory “is a big vote of confidence in the coalition,” Turnbull told Sky News on Sunday. “I am very confident we will be able to see a disciplined approach to teamwork within the coalition.”

Joyce was forced to re-contest the seat after the High Court ruled in October that he was ineligible to remain in parliament because he was also a citizen of New Zealand, violating Section 44 of the constitution. He has since renounced his New Zealand citizenship, which he gained unwittingly through his father.

“We've had to iron out some issues in the coalition and we're doing that,” Joyce said in an interview with Sky News after claiming victory. “We want to show the Australian people that we're back in business.”

The constitution states people are disqualified from parliament if they are “a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power.”

The government will refer Labor and crossbench lawmakers who have any doubt hanging over their citizenship status to the High Court, Turnbull told Sky News. He was satisfied no more government members would be referred to the court.

In the light of previous rulings, any referred Labor parliamentarians “are very likely to be found ineligible by the High Court,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Keith Gosman, John McCluskey

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