Easy Visas

agency, Speedways International, confirmed it had issued tickets for the 12 men to go to Australia. The tickets were given to Mr Tora who presented passports and valid Aust ralian visas for the 12 men.

That tended to cloud the main ‘ issue—that the 12 men, by their actions, had made it more difficult for Fiji people to get into Australia for holidays. It was quite natural that Australia would call for more detailed investigations of the bona tides of potential holiday-makers.

Under the “easy visa” system, all applicants have to do is sign a de claration, which includes an un i supnorted statement that they have enough money to support themselves during their stay in Australia.

Mr Tora, speaking in Melbourne, said the deportation proved that the “White Australia policy” and its discrimination against coloured peo ple was still alive and kicking. He challenged Mr Grassby to a public debate about the policy. He made no remark about Australia, like any other country, having the right to decide its own immigration policy.

On his return to Fiji he accused the Australian immigration officers of thumping the table and being abusive to the Fijians. It sub sequently transpired that language was the main barrier, and once an interpreter was secured the inter views went along smoothly.

Mr Grassby in the Australian Parliament eight days after the men were returned to Fiji, said the Fijians had come to Australia under false pretences, and said that Mr Tora had arranged for them to come to Australia through a travel agency of which he was a director. The group had admitted that Mr Tora arranged for them to have return tickets on the basis of a later repayment to Mr Tora.

Mr Grassby said the deportation of the group was essential, to protect them from years of exploitation and to protect the standards of living and employment in Australia.

Australia rejected the “exploiters of our region” who kept victims in a lifetime of bondage to pay for return fares they never had, and for ac commodation of up to 17 in a room.

Statements by Mr Tora that Aus tralia had two sets of immigration standards and that the 12 men would have been treated differently had they been white, were “utterly false”, Mr Grassby said.