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Irving launches another attempt for Australia visa

CONTROVERSIAL British historian David Irving has launched his fifth attempt in nine years to gain an Australian visa.

Mr Irving has been refused entry to Australia four times since 1992 and labelled anti-Semitic and extremist for writings questioning the Holocaust.

However, he says he is confident this attempt will be successful, because his British-born daughter has taken out Australian citizenship and as her close relative, he should be allowed to visit her.

“I’m making yet another application, much more confidently,” Mr Irving told AAP.

“I’ve said to [Immigration Minister Philip] Mr Ruddock (left) that I don’t intend to rely, at this stage, on the fact that my daughter is an Australian citizen.

“I want to emphasise that I haven’t ambushed the Australian government. I had no idea my daughter had become an Australian citizen. She turned up in England on one of her regular visits and she said, ‘Oh, by the way Dad, I’ve become an Australian’.

“Having produced her passport, quite innocently she has smashed open the door to Australia as far as I am concerned.

“I think a very large number of Australians would be extremely indignant if the government started making an exception in my case and said all other relatives and next-of-kin can visit their daughters, but not Mr Irving.”

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