ttbn,
The "not Victoria" comment was because Croweaters tend to regard Vapour Rubbers as racist.

Your comment about her being an "unelected senator" are a vicious lie: the recent recount of last year's election shows she was elected, despite the electoral system having been changed to favour major parties.

And if you think she has "barely intelligible English" then I think you need to get your ears tested!

Why would her background be an issue?

And why do you think we should restrict our parliamentary candidates to those who were born in Australia? Did you hold that view when the mad monk was PM?

There are quite a few politicians who were not born in Australia.
Penny Wong, Mathias Cormann, Julia Gilard, Tony Abbott, Don Dunstan,
to name just a few. As for the Senator who was born in Kenya -
so what. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds for her.

Ttbn,

Sometimes you're an idiot. Senator Gichuhi ceased being a Kenyan citizen in 1999 when she became an Australian citizen. Whatever the Kenyan parliament and constitution declared after that date has no more bearing on her than on you or me, since all three of us are Australian citizens. End of.

People vote for party blocks for their choice of senate candidates. Family First gained enough votes to elect one of their candidates. Senator Gichuhi was properly at the head of their list of candidates after Bob Day was disqualified. End of.

Senator Gichuhi is a qualified lawyer, and is fully articulate, with a charming African accent. She is precisely the sort of Australian that we need, someone who can overcome initial disadvantage to graduate (twice, at least) from university. End of.

Although she represents a party that I normally wouldn't vote for, merely as a reaction to such unfounded slurs, I'm tempted to vote for her, in five years' time. Luckily, as a migrant from NSW to SA, I can.

Joe

"yes. I do not believe that non-Australian born people should be in Parliament."

ttbn Looks like you and Malcolm Turnbull agree one one thing. The Mad Monk you like to hero worship and heap praise on and according to you should not be in parliament, was born Tony Abbott 4th November 1957 London England. Egg on face award
Maybe you drank too much snupps yesterday celebrating the Fuhrer's birthday. If you missed that one, you can spend today celebrating your Queen of Australia's birthday, Born Elizabeth Windsor 21st April 1926 London England.

Don't be silly, Aidan. Bob Day was elected. This woman was next on the list, but she was not elected. Further, I understand that Family First wanted to replace Bob Day with someone other than the foreign woman, but they couldn't do it.

As for your insult about my disability, yes, I am hard of hearing, and I do wear hearing aids. Am I not entitled to be 'represented' by someone I can understand? It's a bit like trying to understand thick accents when dealing with overseas call centres.

My hearing is adequate when I deal with people with Australian accents. You clearly do not have trouble with your hearing, and obviously don't care about people who do. What a fine fellow you are. It's a pity that you are too thick to understand why 'background is an issue'. And,yes, what I think about non-Australian politicians stands in all cases.

Aunty Foxy,

“So what” about your list? I remain against non-Australians in Parliament, and I will not vote for them.

Joe,

I have often wondered what it would take for you to drop your oh-so-reasonable attitude and start calling people names. Now I know.

I don't care whether the woman is/was a dual Kenyan citizen or not; she is not Australian-born, and should not be an Australian politician – in my opinion. I will not vote for her when she comes up for election, and I doubt that she has what it takes to last the 6 years, or whatever it is that the 'unrepresentative swill' get these days. I doubt very much that I am the only one who thinks that way, and Family First is on pretty rocky ground to start with.

I of course disagree with the 'charming African accent' sentimentality, and say that she is not 'the sort of Australian we need' because she is not any sort of Australian at all. Artificial citizenship is just a convenience, which changes nothing.

Ttbn,

Senator Gichuhi is Australian. Get used to it.

As for her accent, I have much less trouble understanding her than I do the average Scotsman. I had a good friend from Glasgow, but I have to admit I never really understood a thing he said, I used to just nod and smile and laugh at what I astutely discerned were his jokes. Another friend, who arrived in the mid-fifties from Glasgow, went for his English-language component of his driving test seventeen times (he said), but failed each time. It must have been sheer hell for someone with a hearing aid trying to decipher what those blokes were saying.

In sum, Senator Gichuhi his a role model for all Australians, regardless of her political stance.

Joe