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Susan Lamb

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Susan Lamb
MP
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Longman
In office
2 July 2016 – 10 May 2018
28 July 2018 – 18 May 2019
Preceded byWyatt Roy
Succeeded byTerry Young
Personal details
Born (1972-03-23) 23 March 1972 (age 52)
Mackay, Queensland, Australia
CitizenshipAustralian
British (to 14 May 2018)[1]
Political partyLabor
ChildrenFour[2]
OccupationPolitician
teacher aide (former)
union official (former)

Susan Lamb (born 23 March 1972) is an Australian politician. She was the member for the Division of Longman originally elected at the 2016 election on 2 July 2016 until her resignation on 10 May 2018 as a part of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis. She regained the seat on 28 July as one of five candidates to contest seats in the Super Saturday by-elections. She went to lose her seat at the 2019 election, due to the swing against Labor in Queensland.

Life

Born in Mackay, Queensland, Lamb was a teacher aide, then a lead organiser with United Voice from 2012.[3][4] Lamb defeated the Liberal National Party of Queensland's Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy in the 2016 Australian federal election. The LNP had expected to retain the seat located in Brisbane's northern suburbs only to lose by a small margin of 0.79 points.[3]

Lamb was implicated in the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis as she was alleged to be a British citizen by descent through her deceased father, who was born in Scotland.[5] She had attempted to renounce her British citizenship before nominating for election in 2016.[6] However, her renunciation form was refused by UK authorities[7] because they were not satisfied that she was, in fact, a British citizen and requested additional documents as evidence. Lamb claimed to have fulfilled all the requirements of section 44(i) as she believed she had taken all reasonable steps to renounce her citizenship – if it were the case that she was a British citizen – as she was unable to provide any further documents; she said she was "estranged" from her mother and that her father had died.[8] On 7 February 2018, she gave a longer description of her life story in a speech to the House of Representatives. The British government asked for her British passport (she had never held one) and her parents' marriage certificate. She claimed her mother left the family when she was six years old and she had had no relationship with her mother because her father had died. However, Lamb's mother and stepmother later contradicted her version of the story. It was revealed that Lamb and her mother had maintained contact at least until 2014 and that her mother had helped organise her wedding.[9] The government stated that it believed that her situation should be referred to the High Court for a decision on her eligibility.[10]

On 9 May 2018, Lamb announced her resignation from the House of Representatives following the High Court of Australia ruling that Senator Katy Gallagher was ineligible to contest the 2016 election.[11] On 15 May, the Labor Party released documentation from the UK Home Office confirming that Lamb's citizenship had been renounced the previous day, clearing her to nominate as a candidate for the Longman by-election.[12] She was re-elected at the by-election held on 28 July.[13]

Her victory in the by-election has been cited for the downfall almost a month later of Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ Crossley, Paul (16 February 2018). "Fact check: Is Labor's Susan Lamb a UK citizen?". ABC News.
  2. ^ "Susan Lamb > About". Australian Labor Party. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b Election guide, ABC. Retrieved July 2016
  4. ^ "Ms Susan Lamb MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  5. ^ "First Speech: Ms Susan Lamb MP". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Coalition to pursue Susan Lamb over citizenship despite tearful speech". Guardian Australia. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Dual citizenship: Government calls for Labor MP Susan Lamb's resignation". SBS World News. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  8. ^ Conifer, Dan (15 November 2017). "Labor's Lamb says UK authorities 'not satisfied she's a dual citizen'". ABC News.
  9. ^ "Susan Lamb accused of misleading house in speech about her mother". The Australian.
  10. ^ "Full Susan Lamb statement". The Guardian. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  11. ^ Brown, Greg; Owens, Jared; Varga, Remy (9 May 2018). "PoliticsNow: Rebekha Sharkie, Justine Keay quit over citizenship". The Australian. Retrieved 9 May 2018.(subscription required)
  12. ^ Koziol, Michael (15 May 2018). "Labor's Susan Lamb officially renounces British citizenship ahead of byelection". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Longman by-election 2018: Victory for Labor". Sunshine Coast Daily. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Morrison's backers plotted 'for some time'". 2 September 2018.
  15. ^ Mickel, John; Wanna, John (June 2020). "The Longman by-election of 2018: An ordinary result with extraordinary consequences". Queensland Review. 27 (1): 83–99. doi:10.1017/qre.2020.6. ISSN 1321-8166.
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Longman
2016–2018, 2018–2019 		Succeeded by
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