|
MINISTERIAL PRESS RELEASE
The government is pleased to announce the return of
Immigration and Reconciliation Minister Mr Phillip Ruddock to Australia.
Mr Ruddock, who arrived early this morning on a plane that
wasn't invented by Aborigines, declared his Woman's Weekly tour of European
human-rights stop-overs as a great success. "If the world didn't know this
government's attitude to Indigenous Australians, it sure does now," the Minister
said. "I think there were a lot misunderstandings circulating in the human
rights community about my government's attitude to our ancient cousins but I
left them in no doubt as to how we really feel."
He will resume normal duties tomorrow, beginning with an
interview with French art journal "Le Painting" with whom he will be discussing
traditional Aboriginal art. "I will be acknowledging the tremendous
contribution to the art world made by traditional Aboriginal dot paintings," he
said. "Of course, I will also be pointing out that it was Europeans who
came up with the idea of numbering the dots so that they could be joined
together to make proper pictures."
<ends>
Media Contact: Waylon Smithers [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NEWSPAPER REPORT
Arriving at Sydney International Airport last night,
Immigration and Reconciliation Minister Phillip Ruddock was forced not allow
himself entry. As the Minister responsible for Immigration, Mr Ruddock had
previously denied controversial British historian David Irving entry to
Australia on the basis that his comments about the Holocaust would cause
division and may promote racialist division. "On that basis," Mr Ruddock
said, "there is clearly no way I can allow someone like me into the
country." Immigration officials then accompanied the Minister
to a holding cell. He will be taken to the Woomera Detention Centre
tomorrow morning. He is expected to be treated with same compassion that
he has encouraged staff to treat all "illegals".
In a final comment, a somewhat perplexed Minister said he
regretted his comments. "I really should have just kept my opinions to
myself," he said. "Just like the Prime Minister does."
|
