15-05-2025
The kind offer Anthony Albanese could not accept after visiting his father's hometown in southern Italy
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was offered an honorary citizenship from the birthplace of his late father - but he's unlikely to accept the kind gesture.
Albanese's landslide election victory was a source of pride for the city of Barletta in the Puglia region in southern Italy, where his late father, Carlo Albanese, was born.
Mayor Cosimo Cannito praised the Australian leader whil espeaking to local media.
'It is the success story of a man who, starting from the other side of the world, was able to find his origins and now proudly claims them,' he said.
'And this makes the whole community of my city proud to have him at the helm of a great country such as Australia.'
But government sources said Albanese was unlikely to accept the honorary title.
A source told the Sydney Morning Herald: 'This is a kind and generous offer meant in the spirit of friendship between our two nations'.
Section 44 of the Constitution prohibits federal MPs from holding allegiance, obedience or entitlement to the rights or privileges of a foreign power.
Legal experts have said the gesture could raise constitutional issues.
Anne Twomey, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sydney, said if she were the PM, she wouldn't be accepting any honorary titles. '
'I don't know exactly what 'honorary' citizenship entails, and perhaps it is nothing, but given that one also doesn't know how far the High Court would interpret Section 44 of the Constitution, it would be prudent to avoid any dispute over this. It's better to be safe than sorry,' Prof Twomey said.
In 2017, more than a dozen MPs and senators were disqualified or forced to resign under Section 44 during Australia's dual citizenship crisis - even though most were unaware they were considered citizens of another country.
Mr Albanese was raised by his mother, Maryanne Ellery, in Sydney and grew up believing his father had died in a car accident.
She actually met his father, a steward on an Italian cruise ship, during a trip in 1962.
Their brief romance finished when the ship docked in Southampton and Carlo went back to Italy where he later married another woman.
Albanese did not learn the truth until he was 14, but he met his father for the first time in 2009 in Barletta and saw him again in 2013, a year before he died.
Two of Mr Albanese's half-siblings, Ruggero and Francesca, still live in Barletta.
After he won the 2022 election, Mr Albanese was given a statuette by the city of 16th-century knight and hero of Barletta, Ettore Fieramosca.
Mr Albanese is heading to Rome this weekend to attend the first mass of Pope Leo XIV. A visit to Barletta, about four hours from Rome, was not scheduled.
