Australian Labour support Adams visa bid
The Australian Labour Party has passed a resolution
calling on the conservative government to allow West
Belfast MP Gerry Adams to visit Australia. The call was
made in recognition of the role that Adams and Sinn
Fein have played in the search for a lasting
settlement. The resolution also stressed the need for
active international support for the talks process and
the need for justice and international investment to
promote economic and social advance in the Six
Counties.
The resolution, passed at last week's annual national
conference in Hobart comes as the result of continual
lobbying from Australian Aid for Ireland (AIA) and some
50 Australian Labour MPs and senators who opposed the
decision of Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock.
This important move comes against the backdrop of the
ongoing legal battle to force the Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to release the
documents on which the decision to deny Adams a visa
was based. Michael Morgan of AIA said, ``we believe that
the actions of Prime Minister John Howard and his
Foreign Affairs Minister Alex Downar are simply
anti-republican and are made at the behest of the
British government''.
Downar is the brother-in-law of Patrick O'Neill, son of
Terence O'Neill, former Prime Minister of the Six
Counties.
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