John Gorton Found Ineligible

There's an article here on what past Australian Prime Ministers might have been disqualified due to dual citizenship. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-...ve-been-caught-up-in-citizenship-mess/9115988 As noted there, for most Prime Ministers born abroad (or with parents born abroad) this might not be a problem, because prior to the creation of Australian citizenship in 1949,
"Australians were British subjects, status shared with other nations, meaning that the same difficulties did not arise for people from nations such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada."

However, the case of John Gorton might have been different:
"When he became prime minister in 1968, the Australian citizenship had been introduced.

The records state that Mr Gorton was "probably" born on September 9, 1911.

He was the second child of John Rose Gorton and Alice Sinn.

No birth certificate has been located, but a Victorian birth registry lists a John Alga Gordon, born in Prahran on September 9, 1911.

In a very weird twist, Gorton's father apparently told him some time before 1932 that his birthplace was actually Wellington, New Zealand.

He went on to list Wellington as his birthplace when applying for a pilot's licence in the UK.

These revised facts of his life never became public knowledge until he related them for a biography published in 1968 while he was prime minister.

If he was born in New Zealand as his father suggested, he would likely be a dual citizen of New Zealand and Australia, making him ineligible to be in parliament."

So suppose it was proven that he was indeed born in Wellington and the High Court ruled that as NZ dual citizen was ineligible to be Prime Minister (or indeed a member of Parliament)? As I once asked in a different context (having Gorton die much earlier, assuming it doesn't butterfly away Holt's death)

" who becomes Holt's successor as Liberal leader and
(after the interim Prime Ministership of Country Party leader John McEwen)
Prime Minister? I assume that as in OTL McEwen will not accept William
McMahon. In OTL Gorton's main rival was Paul Hasluck, who had Menzies'
support. But Hasluck did not have the youth and charisma thought
necessary for the television age, and he was reluctant to campaign
actively against Gorton (and I doubt that he would have campaigned more
actively against any other candidate except McMahon, whom he really
detested--but as I said, I assume that McMahon is not a candidate for the
same reason as in OTL). So apart from Hasluck, who are the leading
candidates in this ATL? Billy Snedden (a candidate but not a serious
prospect in 1967 in OTL)? Nigel Bowen, whose nearly successful bid for
the Liberal leadership in 1972 we have discussed at
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.history.what-if/msg/aab281830b615a98 ?
It seems a little early for 37-year-old Malcolm Fraser (who supported
Gorton in OTL). Allen Fairhall in OTL declined to run for health reasons
(although some have argued that he just didn't really want to be Prime
Minister ) and I am not sure that would be different in this ATL.
Leslie Bury (another candidate eliminated in the first round in OTL)?

"Who are some other possibilities? I assume that with any of them we get
rather less colorful government in Canberra than under Jolly John..."
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/f_8OCzt_IXM/mxNoBR3Ec48J
 
Do you have a specific date when this comes out? Because timing is everything.

The whole affair is bizarre : Gorton was only considered because the Country party leader McEwan wouldn't support McMahon, so McEwen was sworn in as caretaker PM. McMahon was the only senator sworn in as PM on Jan 10 and resigned on February 1 to contest Holts seat on Feb 23.

The Tet Offensive began on January 31 and while not a member of either house of Parliament and without consulting the Fefence Minister Gorton declared that Australia would not increase its troop commitment to Vietnam.
 
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