Chris Brown (Photo : REUTERS/David McNew)
Australia denied on Friday the visa application of American singer Chris Brown for attacking his former girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.
Australian Foreign Minister Dutton confirmed that it gave Brown a formal notice that his visa application would not be approved on character grounds, reports The Guardian. However, he has 28 days to appeal the decision.
Michaela Cash, the newly appointed women's minister, said on Thursday that Dutton will look at Brown's application very seriously, while she is recommending also its disapproval.
Brown is scheduled to hold his One Hell of a Nite Tour in December. Tickets for the concert-series, to be held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, are scheduled to be begin selling on Monday. A spokeswoman of Brown's touring company declined to comment on the action of Dutton.
Cash explains, "People need to understand if you are going to commit domestic violence and then you want to travel around the world, there are going to be countries that say to you, 'You cannot come in because you are not of the character we expect in Australia.'"
Dutton's action is supported by GetUp, an advocacy group that began an online petition in September seeking a ban on Brown's entry to Australia to emphasize the country's stand against domestic violence. While the group says that Brown is not the point of the campaign, which is about domestic violence, having a high-profile case like Brown's would be a "good sign of the times changing," says Getup senior campaigner Kelsey Cooke.
Although Brown was convicted for what he did to Rihanna, previous Australian governments did not deny his visa applications in 2011 and 2012, which allowed him to do two concert tours. Britain, Canada and New Zealand had denied Brown a visa in the past for the same reason, reports ABC.
