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Tram Town
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
 
Category: Radio
Tonight's PM had an article about the 104-year-old woman who could not get a temporary visa. They spent about 5 minutes allowing all and sundry to slag off Amanda Vanstone because the woman was denied a visa. They finished with a low key statement to the effect that they had contacted Vanstone's office and the issue would be dealt with immediately and the woman would not have to leave the country.
Transcript hopefully available tomorrow.
Disgusting journalism, particularly considering that Amanda Vanstone has said unequivocally before now that this woman would not be "deported":
Senator Vanstone said she would take up the case with immigration officials.
"There are many, many cases which obviously require ministerial intervention of a humanitarian nature, and I wish sometimes we could tell you all about them," Senator Vanstone told the National Press Club.
"You should be assured that this file will be looked at in that context."
Senator Vanstone said while Mrs Hu's case had been raised with her by Chinese consular officials she would not prejudge the case before examining Mrs Hu's file.
The main issue seems to be the woman's access to Medicare but the MSM doesn't want to cover that.
UPPDATE: Now the transcript of the PM report is available. It contains nearly 700 words which imply that the current government are heartless bums and then:
And the Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone was unavailable for comment but her spokesman says that bridging visas will be made available to ensure that 104-year-old Mrs Hu will not be deported.

- posted by Semi @ 7:45 PM 0 comments

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