The Coalition remains unconvinced by Katy Gallagher's explanations over citizenship claims, accusing Labor of gross hypocrisy for refusing to release legal advice on her eligibility to sit in Parliament.
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Liberal Assistant Minister Zed Seselja said the ACT senator's statement to the Senate on Monday was insufficient, as Labor used Parliament to call on the government to release legal advice suggesting Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash are not in breach of section 44 of the constitution.
After days of questions about her mother's birth in Ecuador in 1943, the former chief minister revealed on Monday she had sought urgent legal advice to confirm she was not implicated in Parliament's dual citizenship crisis.
In a surprise move, she also revealed having moved to formally renounce any right to British citizenship in 2016, a year after she joined the Senate through a casual vacancy.
Labor asked Ecuadorian legal expert Gabriel Echevierra and Melbourne Queens Counsel Matthew Collins for advice on a possible breach after claims Senator Gallagher may have citizenship of Ecuador by descent, through her mother Betsy Gallagher, who was born in the South American nation in 1943.
Senator Gallagher said her mother's birth was registered at the British Consulate at Guayaquil and was likely never registered with local authorities. Her mother was never an Ecuadorian citizen.
She was advised to formally renounce any claim to British citizenship by descent from her UK-born father in April 2016.
Both experts said she was eligible to sit in Parliament, but the advice has not been made public.
The move followed her investigations about taking up British citizenship in mid-1990s, a plan she abandoned after her father's death.
During candidate vetting before last year's federal election, Labor advised Senator Gallagher to complete forms renouncing any entitlement "out of an abundance of caution"
Previously, Senator Gallagher had been told she would "probably" be granted citizenship if she applied, although the decision was not automatic.
Labor has argued Mr Joyce and Senator Nash should not make ministerial decisions while their cases are subject to High Court proceedings.
Constitutional experts have suggested if the pair, and stood-aside minister Matt Canavan, are disqualified from Parliament their decisions could be challenged in the courts.
On Monday, Opposition leader Bill Shorten made public a letter showing he renounced UK citizenship a decade ago.
Her former opponent in territory politics, Senator Seselja, said the statement wasn't good enough.
"This is gross hypocrisy from Senator Gallagher and Labor.
"Labor Senators yesterday were calling for the release of government legal advice but they are refusing to answer questions about their own status.
"It is typical Labor party politics: one standard for them and another for everyone else," he said on Tuesday.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said the government was using legal advice from the Solicitor-General to justify keeping ministers who may not even be eligible to sit as MPs in their positions.
"We just can't trust that the government is representing the Solicitor-General's advice correctly – Senator Brandis in particular has form in this area," he said.
"We're talking about the basic integrity of ministerial decision-making, and Zed Seselja is continuing to play petty personal games.
"This government is getting more desperate by the day."
