An award-winning Cameroonian investigative journalist invited to give a speech about media freedom at a conference in Brisbane on Friday has been denied a visa by Australian authorities.

Mimi Mefo, winner of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award, was due to give the keynote address at the Integrity 20 conference hosted by Griffith University, but was told in correspondence that Australian authorities, “were not satisfied that the applicant’s employment and financial situation provide an incentive to return”.

Mimi Mefo has been denied a visa to enter Australia. Credit:The Washington Post

Ms Mefo told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that she was concerned officials denied her visa based on "stereotype views of Africans" rather than on her circumstances. "Maybe it would have been different if they just Googled me or looked at my Twitter or Facebook page. Not everyone who comes to Australia [from Africa] wants to stay."

An appeal on the visa decision failed.