New Zealand overturns ban on US conservative firebrand
A New Zealand immigration official has overturned a ban on the US conservative political commentator Candace Owens entering the country, citing “the importance of free speech,” a spokesperson says.
Candace Owens
Owens is scheduled to speak at events in several Australian cities and in Auckland, New Zealand, in February and March.
But Australia’s Immigration Minister Tony Burke barred her in October, mentioning remarks in which she denied Nazi medical experimentation on Jews in concentration camps during World War II.
The commentator, who has more than three million followers on YouTube, is accused by her detractors of promoting conspiracy theories and stoking anti-Semitism, and has ignited firestorms with her remarks opposing Black Lives Matter, feminism, vaccines and immigration.
New Zealand’s immigration agency refused her an entertainer’s work permit in November on the ground that visas legally cannot be granted to those who have been excluded from another country.
Owens appealed the decision to Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk, according to a statement by Penk’s office on Thursday.
Penk, who is allowed discretion on visa decisions, granted Owens a visa “after considering representations made to him, including the importance of free speech”, the statement said.
She remains unable to enter Australia, however. Burke told reporters in October that Owens “has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction”, citing her remarks about the Holocaust and about Muslims.
Burke’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The Sydney-based promoter of the tour, Rocksman, welcomed the New Zealand reversal as “a win for free speech, and for all those who believe in the importance of robust debate and open dialogue”.
The statement quoted Owens as saying that the reversal was “a step toward a world where individuals are allowed to express their views without fear of censorship or government interference”.
Owens had promised Australian and New Zealand audiences a discussion of free speech and her Christian faith when she announced the speaking tour in August. The promoter is still selling tickets in both countries.
Juliet Moses, president of the New Zealand Council, told J-Wire: “While we find many of Owens’ views and statements abhorrent as well as profoundly stupid, and would rather she did not visit the country, we did not oppose her visit. We will be ignoring her, or, if we think it necessary, criticising and countering what she says.”
AAP/J-Wire
The Free Speech Union is the main organisation that has supported Ms Owens to get her Visa. There are two Jewish members on the FSU executive committee. They are Mr Dane Giraud, and Dr David Cumin who is a member of the NZ Jewish Council and he isa co Director of the Israel Institute of New Zealand. Juliet Moses spokes person of the NZ Jewish Council and Deborah Hart of The Holocaust centre Wellington have expressed different points of view to those of the FSU. The One Community Chronicle published in Auckland has given Ms Owens unnecessary publicity which helped to allow Minister Penk to issue the visa. I am Chairman of The Hawkes Bay Provence Friends of Israel. I do not believe she should get a visa ever. She is the same as David Irving. He was declined a visa because Australia refused him entry. Dr Cumin and Mr Giraud should resign from the FSU in order to reunite the NZ Jewish community.
John McCormick.
Waipukurau NZ