Kiefel CJ
Bell J
Gageler J
Keane J
Nettle J
Gordon J
Edelman J
40.
possess other citizenship. The extension did not apply to Senator Xenophon, who has at all times possessed Australian citizenship. Senator Xenophon's status, until he renounced it, was that of a BOC having no right of abode in the United Kingdom.
A further respect in which Mr Fransman states that the incidents, privileges and obligations of a BOC differ from those of a British citizen is in the nature of the duty of loyalty: a person who is registered as a BOC is not required to pledge loyalty to the United Kingdom. This is by way of contrast with the pledge that is required of a person who is registered as a British citizen. Mr Fransman considers that a BOC does not owe loyalty to the United Kingdom per se but that he or she does owe loyalty or allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen. He does not express a concluded view on whether the allegiance is owed to Her Majesty at large or to Her Majesty in right of the United Kingdom, although he inclines to the latter view. The position with respect to Senator Xenophon is less clear in light of a change in practice. Mr Fransman assumes that the duty of loyalty of a person who became a BOC by reclassification on 1 January 1983, as Senator Xenophon did, is the same as the duty of loyalty of a person who registered as a BOC under the BNA 1981. Mr Fransman considers that, while today an Australian citizen registering as a BOC would be required to take an oath to Her Majesty in right of the United Kingdom, under previous practice this would not have been required because an Australian was already a citizen of a country of which the Queen was Head of State. While the date of the change in practice is not stated, as at the date Senator Xenophon was reclassified it appears that had he applied to be registered as a BOC he would not have been required to take an oath of allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen in right of the United Kingdom. In the event, Senator Xenophon has never applied to be registered as a BOC, nor has he sworn any oath of loyalty or allegiance as a BOC.
To observe that British overseas citizenship is a juridical relationship between the individual and the United Kingdom, as Mr Fransman describes it, is not to conclude that it is a relationship which for the purposes of s 44(i) renders the BOC a citizen of a foreign power. No party contended that the fact that the foreign power designates a status as that of "citizen" is determinative without consideration of the rights, privileges and obligations conferred under the law of the foreign power. The status of BOC distinctly does not confer the rights or privileges of a citizen as that term is generally understood: a BOC does not have the right to enter or reside in the United Kingdom. Critically, taking into account the purpose of s 44(i), which is to ensure that members of the Parliament do not
