Government releases timeline on questions it received regarding Barnaby Joyce

In a bid to set the record straight about who knew what about Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's Kiwi citizenship, the New Zealand Government has released an official timeline of questions it received about the issue.

It confirms Aussie reporters asked questions on the matter nearly two weeks before a member of the Labour Party inquired.

Australian politics was thrown into disarray this week after it was confirmed Joyce was a New Zealand citizen by descent, possibly disqualifying him under a rule that prohibits dual citizens from standing as MPs.

When Joyce announced the news in Parliament, he blamed the Labour Party for having caused the stir by asking about it.

It led to revelations Labour's Chris Hipkins had put in general questions to Internal Affairs about citizenship after talking to a friend in Australia's Labor Party and prompted Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to controversially lash out at Labour.

On Friday, Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne - who previously called the blaming of Labour "utter nonsense" - released a full timeline of questions he received.

It shows Australian journalists asked about Joyce's citizenship well before Hipkins although it appears provided only general responses to the journalists and did not start looking into Joyce's specific circumstances until after Hipkins' questions.

The first media outlet to ask was believed to be The Australian in late July, followed by a blogger William Summers. Hipkins lodged his questions just before inquiries from a Fairfax journalist were referred to DIA.

Joyce has since renounced his New Zealand citizenship.

THE OFFICIAL TIMELINE:

July 27: The Department of Internal Affairs receives a question from an Australian media outlet, asking general questions and specifically naming Barnaby Joyce

July 27: The department replies with general information about citizenship

August 3: An Australian blogger makes an inquiry, also naming Joyce

August 9: Two parliamentary questions by Chris Hipkins are received by the department, asking about citizenship by descent (2.53pm)

August 9: A second Australian media outlet asks general questions about the specific scenario applying to Joyce, but without naming him (3.21pm)

August 10: The department meets the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and advice is sought from Crown Law

August 14: Joyce announces the news to his Parliament

(Source: DIA)