Real History and Free speech in Australia

Posted Friday, January 17, 2003

Alphabetical index (text) Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech

Melbourne, Australia, Friday, January 17, 2003

Controversial British historian David Irving has been refused entry into Australia for a third time.

IRVING, whose theories denying that the holocaust happened have caused outrage among Jewish communities and historians worldwide, received his refusal notice from the Australian government last week, a year after applying for a tourist visa.

He was previously refused entry in 1993 and 1996.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock rejected Irving's application for a visa after he failed the character test.

Irving, whose daughter Beatrice is an Australian citizen living in Brisbane, said he had engaged a Perth firm of solicitors to fight his refusal, even though the government said he could not appeal.

"Thousands of Australians want to hear me speak, they have been denied that right," Irving said today.

"Arsonists are allowed to visit. Weirdos and whackos with real criminal records are allowed to visit but someone with an artificial criminal record is not allowed.

"My criminal record is artificial. The law I broke in Germany doesn't exist anywhere else in the world."

In its decision, the Australian High Commission in London said it could not be assumed Irving would abide by Australian law.

"Mr Irving's behaviour demonstrates a defiance and contempt for the laws of some of the countries he visited," it wrote in its report.

"His conduct was deemed serious enough by those countries to see him deported and excluded.

"It is difficult to determine that Mr Irving wouldn't behave similarly whilst in Australia."

Irving was convicted in Germany in 1992 for defaming the memory of the dead and was expelled from the country the following year.

He was also deported from Canada in 1992 for lying to an Immigration Adjudicator and in 1994, a British High Court judge found he gave false evidence.

He also owes the Australian government $35,140 after previous failed appeals.