Agriculture Minister and deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has been declared ineligible to sit in Parliament by the High Court this afternoon.

The High Court had been deliberating on the fate of six senators and Mr Joyce, a citizen of New Zealand by virtue of his father being born across the Tasman, after it came to light they each held citizenship in countries other than Australia when they were elected.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will assume the Agriculture portfolio in Mr Joyce’s absence.

Deputy Nationals leader Senator Fiona Nash, plus senators Malcolm Roberts, Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters were also ruled ineligible as the citizenship issue reached its end.

There will now be a by-election in his seat of New England on December 2 and the Government loses its one-seat majority. Mr Joyce says he will nominate in his New England seat, having renounced his NZ citizenship.

He said he respected the court’s verdict and apologised for the inconvenience the by-election would cause.

“The decision of the court today is clearly not the outcome we were hoping for but the business of government goes on,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said this afternoon.