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Court date set for Day, Culleton challenge

The question of whether Bob Day and One Nation's Rod Culleton were eligible to be elected will come before the High Court this month.

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Source: AAP


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A High Court directions hearing over whether Bob Day and Rod Culleton were illegally elected to the Senate has been set down for November 21.

The High Court will sit as the Court of Disputed Returns in Canberra for the hearing after the Senate this week took the unprecedented action of referring two of its own members to determine whether they were elected in breach of the constitution.

It's the same day Senator Culleton faces a bankruptcy hearing in the Federal Court in Perth.

While Family First senator Bob Day has already resigned from the upper house to deal with the collapse of his home building empire, One Nation's Senator Culleton has vowed to keep voting on bills and defend himself in court.

It comes as Attorney-General George Brandis on Thursday congratulated Senator Culleton for discovering a technical mistake in the High Court rules.

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Senator Brandis said the High Court rules committee was now acting to correct the mistake but rejected Senator Culleton's call for action against the judges, insisting there had been no breach of the constitution.

"I must congratulate you Senator Culleton on being the first person to spot the problem," he told parliament.

The High Court will examine whether Mr Day had a pecuniary interest with the commonwealth as a result of an arrangement involving the lease on his Adelaide electorate office.

Mr Day had sold the office to a friend in 2014, but his company loaned money to make the purchase and was ultimately liable for the mortgage.

Receiving a financial benefit from the commonwealth disqualifies a person from holding a seat in parliament under the constitution.

The government maintains it never paid any rent for the office.

Senator Culleton's referral stems from a larceny conviction against him which stood at the time of the July 2 election but was later annulled.

Under the constitution, any person who has been convicted of an offence punishable by a jail sentence of a year or longer is incapable of being chosen as a senator.

The letter from court registrar Andrew Phelan to Senate President Stephen Parry on Thursday, tabled in parliament, invites anyone wishing to give evidence or make a submission to make their case to the court.


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