Hanson, “Government knew Ervin was coming”

30th July 1997

“The Liberal Government’s inept handling of the very disturbing visit by the black revolutionary activist Lorenzo Kom”Boa Ervin might now seem to be just another part of their history of political bungling, except it has now come to light that the Liberals knew Ervin was coming.

On May 5, well before Ervin’s arrival in our country, a party of concerned Australians wrote to Immigration Minister, Phillip Ruddock, to alert him of Ervin’s visit. On June 4, before Ervin set foot in Australia, Ruddock acknowledged the letter and thanked them for, “brining your thoughts on this matter to my attention”.

Apparently the Minister for Immigration has a very short attention span, and as a result, Ervin, a convicted international terrorist, landed in Australia and began a speaking tour entitled, Anarchism and the Black Revolution, How did Phillip Ruddock allow this to happen despite having nearly two months warning?

This is a most serious and irresponsible act committed against the Australian people by one of their own elected representatives, and beg the question, if Phillip Ruddock allows such easy entry for Lorenzo Ervin, despite being tipped off well in advance who else is wandering about amongst our unsuspecting and unprotected population?

When I spoke out to warn Australians of the highly dangerous nature of Ervin and his message of anarchy and revolution, I expected the government to act quickly, assess Ervin’s status, apologise for him slipping through the net and take action to deport him as quickly as possible. Now I find rather than slip through the net, Ervin all but had the Liberal’s blessing and happily sauntered through our open front door.

The Prime Minister, or during his illness, his Deputy, must immediately take action to ensure this disgraceful situation cannot be repeated. Phillip Ruddock must be disciplined and forced to publicly apologise to all Australians for his momentous blunder, and some how we must attempt to restore public confidence in the security of our borders.

We all saw Vanstone and then Ruddock bungle the Ervin affair from start to finish, but who would have guessed they actually knew he was coming?”

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