When The Greens were thrown into turmoil last week by the loss of two senators over breaches of the (previously) little-known Section 44 of the Australian Constitution, Malcolm Turnbull could not resist having a little dig of his own.

Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam were both forced to leave the parliament after discovering they actually held dual citizenship with other nations – as explicitly forbidden under Section 44.

“It is pretty amazing, isn't it, that you've had two out of nine Greens senators who didn't realise that they were citizens of another country,” Mr Turnbull said during an interview on Channel 9.

“And it shows incredible sloppiness on their part … it’s extraordinary negligence.”

Inevitably, the political karma gods soon extracted their own revenge when Liberal senator Matt Canavan was forced to resign his ministry after discovering he held dual citizenship with Italy.

It left the PM with egg on his face and left the rest of us wondering what they big deal was in the first place.

Section 44 was written into the Constitution at a very different time in Australia’s history. It comes from a time when Australia was a fledgling nation, surrounded by enemies and genuinely fearful of infiltration.

It was written in pre-World War Australia, decades before the huge 20^th Century migration to our from first, Europe, and, later, Asia and Africa.

Today, about a quarter of Australians are dual citizens, or entitled to take up dual citizenship. And none of them can legally run for parliament unless they renounce their foreign ties - or at least attempt to do so.

That leaves us with a smaller pool of talent from which to elect our parliamentarians and leaves us with a parliament that can never be truly representative.

That can never have been the intention of Section 44, but getting rid of the outdated rule would be no easy task.

The Constitution can only be changed by referendum and referendums have a poor record of success in this country.

If Australians would vote down a referendum to install an Australian head of state, then what hope would there be for a campaign to allow “foreigners” into the parliament? So even if it’s a bad rule, Section 44 is a rule that’s here to stay.

Our pollies know all about it now, and they must ensure they adhere to it.