Josh Frydenberg is facing two separate High Court challenges to his election victory in Kooyong from a failed independent candidate and a climate change activist who know one another through their shared interest in combating global warming.
The Treasurer is being challenged over his eligibility to sit in parliament with Kooyong resident Michael Staindl accusing him of possibly holding dual citizenship via his mother, a Holocaust survivor.
Mr Frydenberg denied he had any issues regarding his eligibility to sit in parliament.
“I have clear legal advice that I do not hold citizenship of another country,” he toldThe Australian.
Mr Staindl is regularly involved in climate change protests in Melbourne, writes for climate action group websites and led a “Stop Adani” sit-in at Bill Shorten’s office in 2017.
Michael Staindl, pictured with local candidates Carolyn Ingvarson and Lucy Manne at a pre-election event. Picture: Josie Hayden
Failed independent candidate Oliver Yates is also filing a separate challenge against Mr Frydenberg’s use of Chinese language signs, which he claims was misleading to voters.
Mr Yates — the former Clean Energy Finance Corporation chief executive — unsuccessfully challenged Mr Frydenberg at the last election in the Melbourne based seat of Kooyong.
He toldThe Australianyesterday that he knew Mr Staindl through their shared climate activism, but clarified that the activist was not involved in his election campaign. Mr Yates also said that he was not supporting or funding Mr Staindl’s separate challenge against Mr Frydenberg.
“I know Mr Staindl through his community work. I think he leads one of the local environment groups. There was some cross-over with local environment groups and my campaign but I didn’t know him very well at all,” he said.
“He certainly doesn’t stick out as someone who was involved in my campaign at all. I have nothing to do with his challenge, I’m very much focused on the misleading conduct case.”
Mr Staindl said today that he was filing his challenge because Mr Frydenberg had “constantly betrayed him” on the issue of climate change.
Independent Oliver Yates during the election campaign. Picture: Stuart McEvoy
“The long and the short of it is: I’ve known Josh for many years. I’ve been trying to get action on climate change and he makes you feel well heard but I think he’s consistently betrayed me, the electorate and the country on climate change,” he told Guardian Australia.
“In the last parliament he gave assurances [of action on the issue] that weren’t convincing to me at all.
“And, as our legislator, I think he owes us better integrity than that. He should show us he’s entitled to sit. He might well be. But he’d be stupid if he hasn’t renounced citizenship or can’t prove he [holds only Australian citizenship].”
Greens candidate for Kooyong Julian Burnside said he did not know Mr Staindl and was not involved in either High Court challenge.
But he endorsed both challenges and believes Mr Frydenberg could be ineligible to sit in parliament.
“Mr Frydenberg’s changed his story on his mother being stateless to his mother being Hungarian,” Mr Burnside toldThe Australian.
Mr Frydenberg has long denied he is eligible for citizenship in Hungary as his mother was left stateless when she fled the Holocaust in 1943.
The new Liberal MP for the Melbourne based seat of Chisholm, Gladys Liu, is also facing a High Court challenge.
Mr Yates has teamed up with a private citizen in Ms Liu’s seat of Chisholm, Leslie Hall, to argue that Liberal Party signs in Mandarin — which looked like Australian Electoral Commission material — misled voters in her seat as well as in Mr Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong.
Marque Lawyers principal Michael Bradley is representing Mr Yates and Ms Hall and said the High Court — acting as the Court of Disputed Returns — should declare the Treasurer’s election void.
“We want the elections in both seats overturned … We allege that these signs in Chinese were illegal activity,” he toldThe Australian.
“The High Court considered this a long time ago about misleading content in elections … we believe these signs are on the wrong side of that.”
The AEC said on the day of the election that the Liberal Party signs were within the rules.
“We believe the AEC is completely wrong,” Mr Bradley said.
Mr Yates first raised his court challenge against Mr Frydenberg last week.
Victoria’s acting Liberal Party state director Simon Frost said there were no issues around the signs used in the Kooyong and Chisholm campaigns.
“The signs were properly authorised as required by the Commonwealth Electoral Act. The Liberal Party will be vigorously defending our position,” he toldThe Australian.
Ms Hall is a private citizen. She was not available for comment and Mr Bradley said she was simply a concerned voter.
Mr Yates said that he did not know Ms Hall and that she had approached his legal team after he first said that he would challenge Mr Frydenberg over the Chinese language signs a week ago.
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