Strafing parliament: Australia's High Court citizenship ruling

"We would be missing out on terrific representatives. But also it's a matter of the most basic fairness that people ought to be able to contribute or participate on equal grounds." Waters similarly backs the point that the reading of section 44(i) "would eliminate a good half of our population from running for Federal Parliament."

The other side of the coin is a less forgiving one. The paperwork on background, familial links, and efforts to renounce, were not done in five cases, and convincing Australians that a constitutional amendment to permit dual citizens to sit in the highest chambers in the land is not one that will fly easily, should it even grow wings. The electorate's kindness only extends so far.

The only possible textual change will have to be by a mechanism of a double requirement: a majority of electors in a majority of states and a majority of the country, a truly high bar to satisfy.

Referenda have a habit of dying in brave efforts to cross the line - a mere 8 out of 44 seeking to amend the constitution have succeeded, the last being 1977. As constitutional law professor Anne Twomey rightly notes, "It is not the sort of thing that people march on the streets for."