It is glaringly obvious that Frydenberg is not being denied a place in Parliament because his family was forced to flee the Holocaust, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
The ongoing furore over Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s eligibility or otherwise to sit in the Australian Parliament springs from his Jewish family’s journey from post-war Hungary to Australia in 1950 and, particularly, the citizenship status of his mother, Erika, who was born in Hungary in 1943.
Frydenberg has consistently and somewhat mystifyingly refused to make public legal advice he claims confirms that he has no citizenship entitlements in any country other than Australia — a move that would likely lay the matter to rest. It is difficult to see how Frydenberg, his family or the Government are benefitting in any way from this drawn-out process and yet, here we are.
Frydenberg first came under scrutiny two years ago, in November 2017, when he was Minister for Energy in the then Turnbull Government. At the time, conflicting accounts of his mother’s citizenship were published in the media.
Turnbull reacted swiftly to concerns about his Minister’s eligibility, describing them as a “witch hunt”. He then embarked on one of his more memorable episodes of confected outrage, invoking the Holocaust, the gas chambers and anti-Semitism as the drivers behind the questioning of Frydenberg’s status.
Read the article by Jennifer Wilson in Independent Australia.