Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore tearfully resigned from the Australian Senate on Wednesday, November 22, after discovering she was a dual British citizen.

She’s the ninth politician to have resigned from Parliament since July, when inquiries by a Perth-based lawyer over former Greens senator Scott Ludlam’s dual citizenship set off the saga. Australia’s constitution forbids dual citizens from holding office in federal Parliament.

Kakoschke-Moore, of the Nick Xenophon Team party, called the discovery of her eligibility “extremely surprising” and has referred herself to the High Court.

Fronting the media, the senator said: “I am a dual citizen as I have inherited British citizenship from my mother. I am heartbroken by this news. My mother was born in Singapore in 1957 to British parents. She migrated to Australia with her family in 1970. I was born in Darwin in 1985. My father and both of his parents were born in South Australia.”

“Usually where a parent is born outside of the UK they are unable to pass their citizenship onto their children, where those children are also born outside of the UK. It was my understanding for my entire life that I was not eligible for British citizenship due to that rule. In fact, as a 12-year-old while I was living in Oman, my father made enquiries with the British embassy there to determine whether I was eligible for a British passport. We were advised that I was not eligible for a passport because I was not eligible for British citizenship. We had no reason to doubt that this was incorrect.”

Nick Xenophon addressed the media, stating it was not the end of Kakoschke-Moore’s career, but the end of a chapter of it. Credit: Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore via Storyful