Australian deputy prime minister resigns after affair with staffer
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party and will move to the backbench after weeks of pressure over an extra-marital affair with his former media secretary. Joyce said he will step down on Monday as leader of the National party, the junior partner in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls centre-right coalition. He will remain in parliament,...
Australia legalises same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage will become legal in Australia after a historic bill was passed in the House of Representatives. An overwhelming majority of MPs voted to change the Marriage Act, eight days after a similarly decisive result in the Senate. The vote set off immediate celebrations in parliament, prompting cheers, applause and even a song. The result brings an end to more than a decade of robust and...
'Kwaussie': Dual citizen saga behind Australia's word of 2017
The term kwaussie - a hybrid of Kiwi and Aussie - has been named Australias word of the year. The portmanteau came to prominence in 2017 through the nations dual citizenship political saga, said the Australian National Dictionary Centre. It describes a person who is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand - as was the case with Australias deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce. Mr Joyce...
Ninth Australian Parliamentarian to resign over dual-citizenship
A ninth Australian parliamentarian will be unseated by a dual citizenship saga, as Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore, from minor party the Nick Xenophon Team, has said she will resign after learning she inherited UK citizenship from her Singapore-born mother. Australias constitution bans federal politicians from having dual citizenship. The saga has claimed the jobs of eight other politicians sin...
