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Josh Frydenberg case referred to Federal Court

The High Court has referred the case of a voter challenging Josh Frydenberg's citizenship to the Federal Court.

The High Court has referred the case of a voter challenging Josh Frydenberg's citizenship to the Federal Court. Photo: Getty

A challenge against Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s eligibility to sit in parliament has been sent to the Federal Court for trial.

A resident of Mr Frydenberg’s Victorian seat of Kooyong, Michael Staindl, filed a High Court petition in July challenging Mr Frydenberg’s eligibility to sit in the federal parliament.

He argued the MP should be disqualified under the constitution because he is entitled to Hungarian citizenship.

On Thursday, High Court Justice Michelle Gordon referred the matter to the Victorian registry of the Federal Court.

She told the court there were “no agreed facts” and it could not be assumed agreement on the facts could be reached “expeditiously, or at all”.

“Factual findings on the existence and content of foreign law are most likely to be required to be made by a judge after a trial and cross-examination of the experts,” she said.

More than 250 pages of expert advice has been filed.

Mr Frydenberg’s mother Erica, who was born in Budapest in 1943, left the country in 1949.

She arrived in Australia with her siblings on the SS Surriento from the Italian city of Genoa in 1950 with travel documents issued to stateless people by the chief of police in Paris.

Mr Frydenberg argues the Hungarian government has turned up no evidence of him or his mother being Hungarian citizens.

-AAP

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