Newly-elected Fowler MP Dai Le has accused the Labor Party of "trying to smear" her after denying speculation citizenship issues could make her ineligible to sit in parliament.
Ms Le, a refugee born in Vietnam, won the south-west Sydney seat from Labor and its high-profile candidate Kristina Keneally.
Fowler was a previously safe Labor seat and the 16 point swing the party suffered against it has been attributed to the decision to parachute Ms Keneally in as their candidate.
On Wednesday, questions were raised over whether the independent Ms Le had incorrectly stated on her Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) declaration form that she had never been a subject or citizen of another country.
"Over the last few days, the Labor Party has been trying to smear me and try to damage my reputation, dragging my family including my son into stories," Ms Le said on social media.
"This morning there have been extensive media enquiries in relation to my eligibility to satisfy Section 44 of the Australian Constitution to stand for election.
"I can confirm that the AEC accepted my application to stand for the Federal Election and that I'm not a subject or a citizen of another country, and was not when I lodged my nomination form with the AEC prior to the close of the nomination."
Ms Le, a former ABC journalist, was born in the now dissolved nation of South Vietnam before moving to Australia at age 11.
Federal parliament is no stranger to citizenship issues.
Following the 2016 election, more than a dozen senators and MPs were revealed as being unwitting dual citizens during a period of chaos in Canberra.
It started when Greens senator Scott Ludlam resigned after learning he was a citizen of both Australia and New Zealand.
That sparked a series of High Court referrals as other parliamentarians came forward with their own citizenship issues.
Then-deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was forced to recontest his seat in a by-election after it was revealed he was also a citizen of New Zealand.
Anne Twomey, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sydney, said under the Australian constitution anyone who is a subject or citizen of another country "is incapable of being chosen as a member of parliament".
Professor Twomey said any citizenship issues must be resolved even before a person nominates to run for parliament.
"The assumption is that if you want to be a member of parliament, you want to make laws, then your sole allegiance should be to Australia," she told ABC Radio Sydney.
Professor Twomey did not speculate on Ms Le's case specifically but said there were "all sorts of problems" with the provision in modern multicultural Australia.
Laws affecting citizenship can vary between countries and can also be changed retroactively, she said.
"It's all a bit mad that you're completely dependent on what's going on in another country," she said.
"All up, is it a mess? Then the answer is yes."
