Gavin McInnes, founder of the right-wing Proud Boys men’s group, has been refused a visa to enter Australia after reportedly failing the country’s character test.
A petition to oppose McInnes’ planned Deplorables tour with Tommy Robinson in Australia gathered more than 81,000 signature and was presented to the Federal Parliament on Thursday. It called on the government to block his entry because of his extreme views and calls for violence.
McInnes’ visa application was blocked by the Home Affairs Department, ABC reports, which said a person wishing to get a visa for Australia must meet certain character requirements.
“For visitors who may hold controversial views, any risk they may pose will be balanced against Australia’s well-established freedom of speech and freedom of beliefs, amongst other relevant considerations,” a spokesperson told ABC.
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McInnes announced he was reluctantly disassociating himself from the Proud Boys last week, explaining his legal team said that doing so would help a group of Proud Boys get lighter sentences for fighting in New York.
The Proud Boys call themselves “Western chauvinists” and say they are against political correctness and racial guilt, and support gun rights and free speech. The group was designated an “extremist group with white nationalist ties”by the FBI in 2018 and has been involved in a number of violent brawls.
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