THERE will not be a citizenship audit of federal politicians, with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declaring “we are not going to engage in some kind of national witch hunt”.

The push for an audit further intensified when former Senate president Stephen Parry resigned this week because he has dual citizenship.

Mr Turnbull has rejected the idea, ridiculing it as unworkable.

“Are we saying that we would propose to have somebody interrogate each and every member and senator, examine their genealogy, seek to uncover facts about their parentage that may not even be known to the member or senator?” he asked.

He said an auditor would then have to establish what complex foreign laws might apply to each person. He argued the High Court is the only way to determine eligibility.

“The Constitution is very clear, every member and every senator has an obligation to comply with it,” he said.

“The High Court has clarified the meaning of Section 44 in respect of dual citizenship and it is up to senators and members to satisfy themselves they are in compliance.”

The Australian newspaper raised questions about whether Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg had Hungarian citizenship inherited from his Jewish mother who left as a small child after World War II.

“We are not going to have politicians, members and senators tried by innuendo and smear,” Mr Turnbull said.

Clearly furious, Mr Turnbull pointed out that Mr Frydenberg’s mother was born in a Budapest ghetto in 1943.