Senator Malcolm Roberts of One Nation says he did sign a form declaring himself a British citizen, but he was only 16 years old and didn't bother to read it before signing it.

Roberts is one of eight MPs caught out by the constitution prohibition on dual citizens from standing for political office.  The High Court is hearing the cases, and has in the past found a candidate may be safe if they take "reasonable steps" to renounce their foreign citizenship.  He says he did that.

But Judge Patrick Keane reminded Roberts, "But you didn't come to Australia until 1962."  Roberts was born in 1955 in India to a Welsh father and Australian mother.  He automatically lost his Indian citizenship when he was naturalized at the age of 19.  And when it came to his British citizenship, Roberts seemed to take it for granted that he was only an Aussie because of "conversations around our family".

Roberts says his father handed him an Australian citizenship form in 1974 which contained a line stating that Roberts, then 16years old, held UK and Colonies citizenship.  He says he didn't bother to read the form: "If my father had said 'here, sign this' I would have," Roberts said.  He traveled on his mother's passport as a child, but was not aware that the document contained a clause stating he had not attained Australian citizenship.

Prior to the 2016 election, Roberts attempted to contact British authorities via email to determine his citizenship.  Barrister Stephen Lloyd, acting as the high court's appointed questioner, said the two email addresses were invalid - one hadn't been used since 2010, and the another was "clearly flawed' as it ended with "sydney.uk".

The emails were titled "Am I still a British citizen", which Mr. Lloyd said implied that Roberts's "state of mind" held there was at least a possibility of his dual citizen status.  Roberts denied it and stuck with his claim that he believed he was always just Australian.