SYDNEY: Australian media responded to the revelation that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is a New Zealand citizen with Kiwi-baiting sheep jokes Tuesday, while acknowledging it leaves Canberra facing a serious political crisis.
Joyce revealed his New Zealand connection on Monday, sparking calls for him to stand down as it is illegal for dual citizens to sit in the Australian parliament.
Born in rural New South Wales state, Joyce has long cultivated an image as a straight-talking Aussie bushman, usually sporting a wide-brimmed Akubra hat and elastic-sided farm boots.
The 50-year-old is best known internationally for threatening to euthanise Johnny Depp's dogs Pistol and Boo when they were brought into the country illegally, and has insisted he is staying on in parliament.
With the conservative government's one-seat parliamentary majority under threat, Joyce has referred the matter to the High Court for clarification.
The Sydney Morning Herald said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's centre-right coalition government was "on the brink" and The Australian opined "PM under a long white cloud", referencing the Maori name for New Zealand.
Other newspapers chose to ramp up the trans-Tasman rivalry with New Zealanders, who Australians like to characterise as sheep-loving country bumpkins.
"Ewe have got to be joking... it could be haka-la-vista for Barnaby," headlined Brisbane's Courier Mail, with Melbourne's Herald Sun chipping in "All Black for Baa-naby".
The Adelaide Advertiser asked "Why so sheepish Barnaby?", while Sydney's Daily Telegraph dubbed Joyce "Barnaby choice, bro".
A tweet from the Northern Territory News harked back to the long list of Kiwi icons claimed by Australia.
"Still shocked about this Barnaby Joyce controversy. We always considered him as Aussie as Russell Crowe, Phar Lap and Split Enz," it said.
Joyce said he was "shellshocked" to learn last week that he qualified as a New Zealander through his Kiwi-born father despite never applying for citizenship.
"Now I'm doing everything I can to fix it up and I'm sure the High Court -- which is vastly wiser than me -- will come up with all the answers," he told reporters.
New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said his country's law was clear.
"Unwittingly or not, he is a New Zealand citizen," he told reporters.
"It's a matter for the Australian system to decide how Australian law applies in his case and how they deal with the issue."
The obscure dual citizenship rule was little known until recently but several lawmakers have fallen victim to it in recent months, leaving parliamentarians scrambling to clarify their ancestral ties.
Two Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, resigned over their New Zealand and Canadian citizenships respectively.
Then the government's Matt Canavan stepped down as resources minister after finding his mother signed him up to Italian citizenship in his 20s, and One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts faces questions over his British ties.