There are at least two lessons out of the High Court decision on the so-called citizenship seven.
The first is that if you want to run for federal parliament and were either born overseas or had parents or grandparents born overseas, take steps to renounce foreign citizenship.
In fact, if you even had a coffee in a Paris cafe one summer, it's best to check your eligibility under section 44 of the constitution.
Labor and the Liberal parties have had stringent checks in place for some time, following previous High Court cases.
However, the Nationals, One Nation and the Greens have been slack.
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A parliamentary committee has now been tasked with finding ways to ensure all candidates go through scrupulous checks before running, possibly even making changes to electoral laws to ensure this is the case.
Whether or not the government considers going further and changing the constitution itself remains to be seen.
However, it could be difficult to convince a majority of voters in a majority of states that allowing people who owe their loyalty to other countries to be able to run for office - even become prime minister.
Secondly, and more seriously, the prime minister's judgement and leadership is in question.
Malcolm Turnbull was insistent in his legal advice that the court "will so find" his three ministers - Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Fiona Nash - to have no eligibility problems.
Canavan, who was cleared by the court, stood aside from cabinet as soon as he became aware of his potential problem.
Nash and Joyce were kept on the frontbench and have now been found to be disqualified.
What's worse, Joyce told reporters on Friday he thought "in his gut" the court would find against him.
It was a far cry from the confidence expressed by his colleagues for the past two months and raised eyebrows in Labor ranks.
"What he's saying with that statement is that he sat illegitimately in the parliament thinking to himself, 'I shouldn't be here'," Labor's Anthony Albanese says.
The prime minister was already under pressure this week after Employment Minister Michaelia Cash misled a Senate committee over her office leaking details of a police raid on two union offices.
Turnbull now faces 33 days of campaigning, with little space for governing, and a concerted effort by Labor to de-legitimise his government.
There's also the prospect of someone with a beef against Barnaby taking High Court action challenging a ministerial decision under section 64 of the constitution.
That section is said by some legal experts to open to challenge any decision made by Joyce, Nash or Canavan since October last year.
Of course, in the slim chance Joyce loses his seat, the viability of the one-seat majority Turnbull government is called into question.
Turnbull has in his back pocket a commitment by independent MP Cathy McGowan she will continue to support supply and confidence, however, there won't be any deals on legislation.
The replacement of Nash could also cause ructions.
The NSW Nationals may insist it should stay in their hands, but the next person on the 2016 NSW coalition Senate election ticket was a Liberal, Hollie Hughes.
The court decision was just the start of the government's problems.
