Harris Visa

Letter to the Editor - The Australian
23 June 2005

Dear Sir/Madam

We are extremely disappointed to see that the department’s response was not accurately reported in Mr Kearney’s article (Digger ordered to leave the country, 23 June 2005).

When Mr Kearney contacted the department regarding this story he was told that the department had not refused Mr Harris a Resident Return Visa (RRV).

Mr Harris failed to provide the necessary information to the department in his initial application. Mr Harris was informed of this on 30 May 2005 and asked to provide the information so the application could be processed. Until this morning Mr Harris had failed to do this.

It was also reported that Mr Harris was facing deportation. As Mr Harris’s Resident Return Visa was not refused and his application not cancelled, deportation or removal of Mr Harris was never a consideration.

A Public Affairs officer contacted Mr Kearney this morning to inquire why our information had not been included in his article. Mr Kearney assured the officer that he had in fact quoted us as saying we had not refused Mr Harris’s RRV 'quite high up’ in his story but this was not in the final published version.

The Department is very interested to know why this important information was deemed not to deserve inclusion. Perhaps The Australian thought that a sensational story was better than an accurate one.

Kym Charlton
Acting Director
Public Affairs
DIMIA