‘Parliament should have the right to refuse entry to or deport foreign leaders on the basis of their character,’ says Nick McKim

The Greens are moving to block Donald Trump from visiting Australia, claiming that his racist and xenophobic policies and opinions, and his contempt for the rule of law, ought to bar him from getting a visa.



They want to amend Australia’s visa laws to give parliament the power to block any foreign leader from entering Australia on the grounds of character, saying their amendment has been designed with the US president in mind.

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“Consistent with our position that parliament should have the final say on Australia going to war, we believe that parliament should have the right to refuse entry to, or deport, foreign leaders on the basis of their character,” the Greens immigration spokesman, Nick McKim, said on Wednesday.

“Just to name a few of his myriad character flaws, Trump has green-lighted sexual assault on women, mocked people with disabilities, displayed consistent racist and xenophobic opinions and policies, and contempt for the rule of law.”

McKim’s office has circulated an amendment to the migration amendment (character cancellation consequential provisions) bill 2016, which they expect to go before the Senate on Wednesday evening.

The amendment extends the immigration minister’s power to cancel visas on character grounds to give parliament the power to cancel visas of foreign leaders.

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, told Guardian Australia this week that he wanted to use the first week of parliament of 2017 calling for a renegotiation of the Australia-US alliance, saying it no longer served the country’s interest.

On Tuesday evening, the Greens senator Scott Ludlam launched a spirited attack on Trump in the Senate chamber, saying his behaviour and policies were “fascism in larval form” and calling for an immediate renegotiation of the alliance.

“Donald J Trump inherited President Obama’s drone assassination program, his global mass surveillance apparatus, his Asia-Pacific pivot that cemented the encirclement of China with a network of military, his unprecedented attacks on whistleblowers and journalists,” Ludlam said.

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“Maybe that all seemed benign when the argument was being run by a gifted orator like Mr Obama. But it wasn’t benign.

“The tools are all there, all it requires is an administration paranoid enough, arrogant enough, deranged enough, to turn the key. A register of Muslims. Promotion of the intelligence value of torture. Overwhelming contempt for the journalists and news organisations who are tasked to hold him to account. Casual hostility to the rule of law.

“This is not a time to cave in. This is a time to stand up. Not in order to return to the deadening neoliberal status quo, but to remind ourselves that another world is possible. This is a time to resist.”