Australia foreign chief stands in for PM after deputy ousted
SYDNEY, Australia — Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will stand in as Australia’s acting prime minister while Malcolm Turnbull is away on a brief overseas trip, due to the dual citizenship crisis that has sidelined his deputy.
Turnbull has refrained from officially appointing a new deputy in what is expected to be the five-week absence of Barnaby Joyce. He and four other lawmakers were disqualified by Australia’s High Court Friday from sitting in Parliament after they were each found to hold citizenship of Australia and another country.
Joyce is leader of the National Party, the junior partner in the conservative coalition government with Turnbull’s Liberal Party. Having recently renounced the New Zealand citizenship he inherited from his father, Joyce will contest a Dec. 2 byelection.
Speaking to reporters in Sydney before leaving for Israel on Saturday, Turnbull said Bishop, as deputy leader of the Liberals, was next in line after Joyce to be acting prime minister.