The Canberra Times says that as the citizenship crisis engulfing Canberra enters a second phase, it's clear that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hopes to neutralise the threat it poses to his government with a quick-fix disclosure regime.
The paper explains that his plan is to use a public register of MPs' citizenship information to weed out the dual nationals in the 45th parliament, have them referred to the High Court and hope that the Coalition will win any by-elections for those with foreign citizenship.
However, it pointedly says, Mr Turnbull's plan is the more painful, draw-out method to clear the chambers of dual citizens because the saga will continue throughout the summer, damaging the parliament’s reputation and casting doubt on the validity of any decision to pass or reject legislation until the public can be sure all dual nationals have resigned.
The Canberra Times argues that an early election can be a decisive solution to end the ongoing dual citizenship scandal and Mr Turnbull risks looking self-interested and crisis-ridden if he avoids an early poll.
