Fijian Army Link Ends Afl Dream

The Age

Saturday January 17, 2009

Nick Sheridan

A FIJIAN footballer on a development scholarship with the Western Bulldogs has been denied entry to Australia because his father is an officer in the Fijian military.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has placed restrictions on the immediate families of certain members of the Fiji military and other Fijian officials entering Australia.

The measure has been taken in protest against the unelected government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who took control of the country in a military coup in 2007.

However, DFAT has not ruled out allowing Mr Bainimarama himself to travel through Australia next week when he makes his way to the South Pacific Forum in Port Moresby.

A spokesman for DFAT confirmed yesterday that the department had received a request for Mr Bainimarama to travel via Australia, but a decision had not been reached.

The spokesman said the department would take into account "the fact that the travel is related to a Forum meeting and is for transit only". He added: "New Zealand agreed to a transit arrangement for Bainimarama for last year's Niue Forum."

Inoke Ratu, 19, was due to travel to Australia tomorrow to train with the Western Bulldogs for one week.

The Bulldogs signed Ratu and another Fijian teenager, Solomoni Loki, on two-year development scholarships last year. Loki has been cleared to travel to Australia.

Mr Ratu said the Australian embassy in Fiji informed him of his rejection on Thursday, but he was not given a reason. DFAT has confirmed that he was denied entry because of Mr Ratu's father's status as a desk officer in the Fijian military.

"When I received the call I was disappointed and angry because I have sacrificed a lot in my training and the other things that I did for the Western Bulldogs," Mr Ratu said yesterday.

Bulldogs recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple said the club would do all it could to get Mr Ratu into Australia.

"The feedback that we're getting is that it's going to be looked at again."

However, a DFAT spokesman told The Age yesterday the department had no intention of reviewing the decision. "Australia's visa bans are targeted at supporters of the interim regime in Fiji and their close associates, in order to encourage the regime to return Fiji promptly to democracy and the rule of law."

Twenty eight boat people from Afghanistan and Iran have been granted asylum in Australia. The group includes 10 children who tried to reach Australia last year.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the people "demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution or death should they be returned to Afghanistan or Iran".

They arrived in boats on September 29, October 6 and November 24 and were taken to Christmas Island.

The decision comes after at least four Afghan boat people drowned last week, having escaped from a detention centre in Indonesia and boarded a boat bound for Australia.