Labor Senator Katy Gallagher's mother was a British citizen born in Ecuador to British parents. Gallagher first entered Parliament on 25 March 2015, following a casual Senate vacancy for the Australian Capital Territory. She filed UK citizenship renunciation papers with the UK Home Office on 20 April 2016, in the lead-up to the federal election in 2016, which took place on 2 July. The UK Home Office accepted her payment as part of the application on 6 May; however, on 1 July, it requested original copies of her birth certificate and her parents’ marriage certificate as part of her renunciation, which Gallagher provided on 20 July. The renunciation of her British citizenship was effective on 16 August 2016, after the federal election. On 6 December 2017, at Gallagher's request the Senate referred her case to the High Court.
