Malcolm Roberts was born in India of an Australian mother and a British father. Roberts is an Australian citizen, and on 8 August 2017 documents were revealed by
BuzzFeed indicating that Roberts was a
British citizen at the age of 19.
[55] Roberts released a statutory declaration stating that he was only a citizen of Australia.
[136] A spokesperson for Roberts stated that Roberts was "choosing to believe that he was never British".
[137] Doubts persisted about the status of Roberts'
Indian citizenship after it was argued in the media that under a precedent set by the Supreme Court of India, he continued to be a 'presumed citizen' of the country.
[138][139]
On 9 August the Senate, with all-party support, referred Roberts' position to the High Court as Court of Disputed Returns.
[56][140] The reference was moved by Roberts's party leader
Pauline Hanson, with his support. He did not respond to a question in the Senate whether he would be voting before the Court's decision.
Justice
Patrick Keane conducted a hearing to determine factual issues on 21 September. Roberts and his sister Barbara were cross examined as well as two expert witnesses on British citizenship.
[141] The following day, Keane handed down his findings on that evidence, finding that at the date of his nomination for the Senate (1) Roberts was a British citizen, (2) he knew that there was at least a real and substantial prospect that he was a British citizen and (3) Roberts could have, but didn't, take steps to renounce his British citizenship.
[142][143]
Roberts's seat was filled by a countback, which led to his replacement by the third candidate on the Queensland One Nation ticket,
Fraser Anning.
[125] Despite concerns that Anning would also be ineligible due to bankruptcy, in a similar case to One Nation's
Rod Culleton,
[144] the bankruptcy petition against him had been withdrawn by 3 October.
[145] After he was sworn in, Anning resigned or was expelled from One Nation and opted to sit as an independent.
[146][147]
After learning of his disqualification on 27 October, Roberts announced that he would run for the
electoral district of Ipswich in the
Queensland state election in November.
[148] He was not elected.