Senator Derryn Hinch cleared of constitutional breach

Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch will not be referred to the High Court after the federal government received legal advice he has not breached the constitution.

Senator Derryn Hinch has been cleared of a constitutional breach.

File image of Senator Derryn Hinch Source: AAP

Crossbench senator Derryn Hinch says he's hugely relieved after the federal government and opposition resolved not to refer him to the High Court.

Senator Hinch vowed to refer himself to the court this week following revelations he still held a US social security card from his time living in New York in the 1960s and 1970s.

Section 44 of the constitution disqualifies from parliament anyone "entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power".

Senator Hinch said he was advised on Friday night by Attorney-General George Brandis that constitutional lawyers had concluded he was not in breach of the constitution.

Neither the government or the opposition would seek to refer him to the High Court when parliament resumes on Monday, he said.



Senator Hinch said it was a "huge relief" to be cleared after a "malevolent" person went to the media with the allegations.

"I'm glad the government has accepted the same advice given to me this week by two august constitutional lawyers," he said in a statement on Saturday.

"I have never been entitled to the rights and privileges of a foreign power. This was a vindictive slur."

Two other senators, cabinet minister Fiona Nash and crossbencher Nick Xenophon, will be referred by the Senate to the court on Monday.

They will join Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, coalition senator Matt Canavan, One Nation's Malcolm Roberts and former Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam, whose eligibility will be assessed in October.

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