Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken steps to ensure his government retains power after five politicians were disqualified from parliament by the High Court.

The High Court found that the five politicians were either the citizen of a foreign power or entitled to the rights or privileges of a citizen of a foreign power and thus ineligible to be elected to parliament under section 44 (i) of the Australian Constitution.

Among those ruled ineligible were Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce as well as Senator Fiona Nash, who is also Joyce’s deputy leader of the Nationals Party.

The Greens’ Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters and One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, all of whom except Roberts had already announced their resignation regardless of the finding, who served in the Senate alongside Nash were also disqualified.

The loss of Joyce was the biggest blow for Turnbull with the government losing its slim majority in the House of Representatives, the lower house of Australian parliament.

Shortly after the ruling Turnbull went to work to ensure that independent Member of Parliament (MP) Cathy McGowan would provide the government with a vote of confidence, foiling any attempt by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to pass a vote of no confidence which would have forced an election.

Joyce’s former seat of New England in New South Wales (NSW) will go to a by-election where the former minister for agriculture will be allowed to run having renounced his New Zealand citizenship which he held on account of his father being born there.

It is expected that Joyce would win the Dec. 2 by-election comfortably.

“The decision of the court today is clearly not the outcome we were hoping for but the business of government goes on,” Turnbull told reporters before heading on an official visit to Israel on Friday.

“Barnaby Joyce is the best person to continue to deliver for New England and for Australians living in regional, and rural areas.”

Seats in the Senate are not subjected to by-elections and the positions of those disqualified will instead go to the next person on their respective parties’ Senate ticket at the 2016 election.

The Nationals’ Matt Canavan and independent Nick Xenophon, who has already announced his resignation from federal politics, were cleared by the High Court.