20.
foreign law, and who wished to avoid disqualification under s 44(i), may still need to take steps to repudiate "any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power".
60 However, as Senator Gallagher correctly submitted, "irremediable" is not limited only to circumstances of permanent impossibility. The constitutional imperative also applies to a foreign citizenship law the "operation"[1] – that is, the legal or practical effect – of which imposes unreasonable obstacles upon the ability of a person to renounce his or her foreign citizenship. Unreasonableness is a relative term. In Re Canavan[2], this Court gave a telling example of a law having this unreasonable practical effect. That example was a law requiring renunciation to be carried out in the territory of the foreign power, where the citizen's presence in that territory could involve risks to their person or property. The telling nature of this example lies in the unreasonableness required to engage the constitutional imperative.
61 Senator Gallagher submitted that any foreign citizenship law that required action or inaction by foreign officials as part of a process of renunciation imposed such an unreasonable obstacle in that respect, and therefore ought not to be given effect. It was submitted that otherwise the foreign law could introduce arbitrariness, including discriminatory outcomes and the difficulty of having recourse to the administrative and legal processes of a foreign country. Senator Gallagher also submitted that the actions of foreign officials could otherwise affect the ability of a person to participate in election campaigning during the short period of time between nominations and the return of the writs.
62 The relevant foreign law that was said to be the source of these unreasonable obstacles is s 12(2) of the British Nationality Act. Section 12 contains the statutory requirements governing renunciation of British citizenship. It provides:
"(1) If any British citizen of full age and capacity makes in the prescribed manner a declaration of renunciation of British citizenship, then, subject to subsections (3) and (4), the Secretary of State shall cause the declaration to be registered.
(2) On the registration of a declaration made in pursuance of this section the person who made it shall cease to be a British citizen.
(3) A declaration made by a person in pursuance of this section shall not be registered unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the
