Talk:Heather Hill (politician)

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Edofedinburgh 20:55, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Travel to NZ – relevant?
I’m not sure I see why her trip to NZ in February 1998 is relevant to anything much. Seems to me the crucial points are:
 * She became an Australian citizen in January 1998. She did not relinquish her UK citizenship at that time, so she was a dual citizen.
 * She stood for election to the Qld state parliament in June 1998, but did not win. Her dual citizenship might have been an issue had she won, but she didn't, so it wasn't.
 * She stood for election to the Senate on 3 October 1998, and won a quota.
 * On 19 November she applied to relinquish her UK citizenship.
 * On 30 November her eligibility to be a candidate was challenged.
 * In June 1999 the Court of Disputed Returns decided she was not validly elected to the Senate because she was still a UK citizen at the time of her election, October 1998.

So, mention of her attempt to enter the Qld Parliament is appropriate, because it's part of her political career. But where she travelled to and what passport she used are irrelevant to the constitutional issues. At the time of her travel, she was a citizen of 2 countries and legally was permitted to use whichever passport she liked. Mention of this trip ought to be removed, imo, because it reads as if it was part of the reason why her election was declared invalid, but actually it had nothing to do with it, as far as I can see. The core issue for the Court to consider was whether she was entitled, by virtue of being a UK citizen, to hold a UK passport at the time of her election to the Senate. It wasn't whether or not she actually held such a passport, and it certainly wasn't whether or not she actually travelled on such a passport.

Any comments before I take it out? --  Jack of Oz   [your turn]  02:23, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 17:26, 29 April 2016 (UTC)