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Australian dual nationals exempted from US ban: Turnbull

Australian dual nationals will be able to travel to the United States after being exempted from Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

Jan 31, 2017, updated Jan 31, 2017
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the development following a call from Australia’s ambassador in Washington Joe Hockey.

“He’s had assurances, confirmation, from the White House that Australian passport holders – regardless of their place of birth or whether they are dual nationals or whether they hold another passport – will remain welcome to come and go to the United States in the usual way,” Mr Turnbull told Sky News on Tuesday.

The assurance matches those the US gave to the United Kingdom and Canada and came after confirmation from the national security adviser.

The decision means Melbourne schoolboy Pouya Ghadirian – a dual Australian-Iranian citizen – should be able to attend a space camp in the US.

Pouya, 15, was refused an entry visa by US consular officials following President Trump’s executive banning travellers from seven majority Muslim countries.

Now he is expected to join his classmates on a school trip to visit Orlando, Washington, and the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.

On the political front, Turnbull defended his decision not to publicly criticise the Trump ban.

“When I have frank advice to give to an American president, I give it privately, as good friends should, as wise prime ministers do, when they want to ensure they are best able to protect Australians and Australians’ national interest,” he told reporters in Canberra today.

“Others can engage in commentary. My job is to stand up for Australia, Australian interests, and deliver, and that’s what we’ve done today.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten used Facebook to take a swipe at Turnbull.

While the US should be able to go about its business without interference from Australia, there were some issues where silence would be interpreted as agreement, he wrote.

“For that reason, I need to say Mr Trump’s ban on refugees based upon their religion or country is appalling and ought to be ended as soon as possible,” he wrote.

But Turnbull reminded the Labor leader he was not prime minister.

“He will go out on anything that he thinks gives him a political advantage,” he said.

“He has no concern about our national interest and our national interest is best protected by me giving private counsel to the United States, our most important ally, (and) publicly refraining from commenting on their domestic policy.”

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale says the prime minister passed up a great opportunity to show some leadership.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus cited a Facebook post by former US ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich, condemning the new administration.

Bleich took to social media to label the visa ban illegal and cruel, saying it violates the most basic tenets of the US.

“I take no pleasure in condemning our nation’s actions,” he wrote.

“But the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

Former president Barack Obama also weighed into the debate, praising protesters who amassed across the country in opposition to Trump’s immigration orders.

“The president fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion,” Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, said.

In his first statement on behalf of the former president, Lewis said Obama was “heartened” by the amount of engagement taking place in US communities.

“Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organise and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake,” Lewis said.

Lewis didn’t specifically invoke Trump’s immigration order. But he rejected comparisons between Trump’s recent actions and Obama’s foreign policy decisions.

Trump said he took cues from Obama by temporarily banning travel to the US from citizens of seven countries that Obama’s administration identified as places of terrorism concern. But Obama’s designation related strictly to eligibility to enter the US without a visa; he never considered a travel ban.

Obama’s office also circulated excerpts from a speech the former president gave in November 2015, in which he called the idea of a ban on Muslims “shameful.”

“That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” Obama said in the aftermath of attacks in Paris that prompted calls for the US to restrict Syrian refugees from entering the United States.

Trump and the White House have vigorously disputed the notion that Trump’s order is a “Muslim ban.”

Lewis’ comments mark the first time Obama has weighed in on Trump’s actions since Obama left office on January 20. In his final weeks as president, Obama said he planned to follow George W. Bush’s example by giving his successor room to govern without being second-guessed.

Yet Obama pointedly reserved the right to speak out if Trump violated what Obama called basic American values. He suggested a ban on Muslims or a move by Trump to deport immigrants brought to the US illegally as children would cross that threshold.

– AAP

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