Lawyers involved in a challenge to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's eligibility to sit in the federal parliament have been urged to progress the case quickly.
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A resident of Mr Frydenberg's electorate of Kooyong, Michael Staindl, filed a court petition in July arguing the MP should be disqualified under the constitution because he is entitled to Hungarian citizenship.
At a directions hearing in the High Court sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns on Thursday, Justice Michelle Gordon said she was concerned that "not much" has happened since then.
Federal laws require the court to deal with the matter "as soon as is reasonably practical in the circumstances", she stressed.
"A long time has passed with not much happened, to be blunt," she said.
"At the moment there doesn't seem to be any advancement of identification of what the real issues are."
As it stands, Mr Staindl's legal team has handed Mr Frydenberg's lawyers a list of questions it plans to ask an expert witness.
Mr Frydenberg's team is yet to provide them with information about witnesses they plan to call.
But the treasurer's lawyer John Sheahan QC said Mr Staindl's team have been given a "significant body of factual material" and that any delay in the case has stemmed from them.
"Our ability to meaningfully engage with the petitioner has been hampered by the petitioner," he told the court.
But he committed to meet with Mr Staindl's lawyer Angel Aleksov and Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, who has intervened in the case, before another directions hearing on December 12 to ensure it is "in a fit state".
He will provide Mr Staindl's team with information on their witnesses in the days prior.
Justice Gordon said if there is in any delay in that timeline, the case will be moved down to the Federal Court where such issues may be dealt with more efficiently.
She said the matter had to "proceed quickly".
Australian Associated Press
