Malcolm Turnbull has a heck of a political problem on his hands. For once, it’s not entirely of his own making.

The extraordinary mass fallout from section 44 of the federal constitution, with seven (so far) senators and MPs being ensnared since July by the quaint words, ‘is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power’.