Citizenship Crisis: Hollie Hughes, replacement for Fiona Nash in Senate, faces High Court hurdle.

The ABC reports that three of the four senators replacing removed dual citizens will be sworn in on Monday, but the eligibility of New South Wales Liberal Hollie Hughes to replace former deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash is now under a constitutional cloud. High Court Justice Stephen Gageler said the Full Court should consider whether Ms Hughes is in breach of another section of the Constitution. It is reported that the Senate recount was ordered because Ms Nash was disqualified from the Upper House as she was a dual citizen at the time of the last election. It appears that Ms Hughes was in an unwinnable position on the New South Wales Senate ticket, and missed out on election last July. After that reports the ABC, she was appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) — the body which scrutinises government decisions. There are concerns Ms Hughes may have breached section 44(4) that section specifically bans people from holding parliamentary office if they also held an "office of profit under the crown", thereby effectively banning public servants from running for office while they are still employed. It appears that even though Ms Hughes ostensibly resigned from the AAT before the Senate recount, her brief tenure at the tribunal could still breach that ban.

Citizenship crisis: Liberal MP John Alexander mulls resignation, possible December byelection.

The SMH reports that voters in the federal seat of Bennelong could be forced to a December 16 byelection amid speculation that Liberal MP John Alexander will soon resign over dual citizenship. The SMH reports that Mr Alexander would need to quit and trigger the byelection – which he plans to contest – no later than this Monday to allow the minimum 33-day campaign required to hold the poll on December 16. The weeks after that date – which is during the Christmas and New Year period,– are considred to be impractical, pushing back the next likely date of the byelection until at least early February. However reports the SMH, complicating the byelection plan is that Mr Alexander would have to fully renounce his claim to UK citizenship before nominating as a candidate. Apparently if Mr Alexander failed to have written confirmation of his status before standing in the byelection he could still be considered constitutionally ineligible.

Hasty interest rate hikes could trigger a property crash, UBS warns.

A recent correction in Australia's housing market could turn into a full-blown crash if the Reserve Bank hikes rates too soon or too fast, a global investment bank has warned reports the SMH. Apparently the end of the nation's world record housing boom (property bubble) and the drawing down of household savings has caught the RBA in an interest rate trap, says George Tharenou, chief economist at UBS. Dubbing the situation as the "household wealth effect", he has outlined a scenario where rising asset prices, falling savings and the fact that consumption has grown faster than wages would leave Australians particularly vulnerable to interest rate hikes. "People underestimate this sensitivity to interest rates," Mr Tharenou commented at a market briefing in Sydney on Friday. Moreover he said that "[i]f the RBA hikes too much or too early, it runs the risk of turning a quarterly correction in the housing market into a crash."

Australia's human rights record slammed by UN over Manus, Marriage and Prison.

Less than a month after it was appointed to the UN's human rights council, Australia's own rights record has been slammed again. The Hugffington Post reports that Australia was elected unopposed to the United Nations' Human Rights Council in October. At the time reports the Huffington Post, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia's three-year term on the council would "provide a unique Indo-Pacific perspective and ensure that the voices of our Pacific neighbours and other small states are heard", but just three weeks on from Australia's election to the council, the Human Rights Committee has taken us to task over how we treat the most vulnerable in society.