SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Rome: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has politely declined an offer of honorary citizenship from the Italian city of Barletta, the birthplace of his late father, due to legal concerns that the gesture could conflict with Australia’s constitutional rules on foreign allegiance.
The symbolic honour was proposed by Barletta’s mayor, Cosimo Cannito, following Albanese’s stunning re-election to a second term earlier this month. Cannito described the prime minister’s political journey as a source of immense pride for the Puglia region in southern Italy.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in Jakarta on Wednesday night. He will travel to Rome on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“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 told local media last week, while inviting the prime minister to visit. “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 confirmed this week that Albanese was unlikely to accept the honorary title while serving in parliament. The message has been diplomatically relayed to the regional city council.
“This is a kind and generous offer meant in the spirit of friendship between our two nations,” said a source close to Albanese, not authorised to speak on the record.
A separate diplomatic source, also not authorised to speak on the record, said it would avoid any potential implications under Section 44 of the Constitution, which prohibits federal MPs from holding allegiance, obedience or entitlement to the rights or privileges of a foreign power.
Anthony Albanese with his father, Carlo Albanese, in Barletta in 2009.Credit: Lisa Golden
Albanese is scheduled to travel to Rome this weekend – his first official trip to Italy since taking office – to attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV, alongside other world leaders. The same source said a visit to Barletta, about four hours from Rome, was not scheduled during this trip.
While honorary citizenship is typically symbolic and does not automatically confer legal nationality, legal experts have warned that even such gestures could raise constitutional red flags.
Anne Twomey, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sydney, said the prime minister’s decision was prudent.
“If I were the PM, I wouldn’t be accepting any honorary citizenship of any country either,” Twomey said.
“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.”
The issue of dual allegiance has previously brought turmoil to federal politics. In 2017, more than a dozen MPs and senators were disqualified or forced to resign under Section 44 during Australia’s dual citizenship crisis – many were unaware they were considered citizens of another country by descent or operation of law.
The prime minister’s personal story has long captivated both Australians and Italians. Raised by his mother, Maryanne Ellery, in Sydney’s inner west, Albanese grew up believing his father had died in a car accident – a story his mother told to protect him. In reality, she had met Carlo, a steward on an Italian cruise ship, during a voyage in 1962. Their romance ended when the ship docked in Southampton, and Carlo returned to Italy, where he later married another woman.
Albanese did not learn the truth until he was 14. Years later, after his mother’s death and while already in public office, he began tracing his father’s identity through shipping records. He met Carlo for the first time in 2009 in Barletta, and visited again in 2013.
Carlo Albanese died in 2014, but two of Anthony Albanese’s half-siblings, Ruggero and Francesca, still live in Barletta. The town has closely followed his political rise and considers him one of its own.
In 2022, city officials marked his election victory by sending Albanese a statuette of Ettore Fieramosca – a 16th-century knight and hero of Barletta – as a symbol of the city’s esteem and a gesture of cultural connection.
Although Albanese has previously confirmed he has never held Italian citizenship, scrutiny around eligibility remains acute. By declining the honorary citizenship, he avoids a potential legal ambiguity that could become politically or constitutionally disruptive.
But the honorary citizenship offer remains open, with officials hopeful that Albanese may accept it in the future – perhaps once he is no longer bound by parliamentary office.
“We want to celebrate him as he deserves,” Oronzo Cilli, Barletta’s culture councillor, said. “Barletta recognises itself in the values of dignity, work and tenacity that Anthony’s life embodies.”
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