Lauren Southern has had her visa declined just weeks before her first scheduled appearance with Stefan Molyneux in Melbourne. The pair are set to tour major Australian cities and Auckland from July 20 – August 3.

David Pellowe, an event organiser, has set up a petition in support of Southern and Molyneux, which can be signed here. “Let’s request the normal welcome to Australia every law abiding visitor with zero criminal record or charges should receive,” Pellowe said.

“This tour will contribute to the ongoing conversation about important public issues. Let’s emphatically reject all calls for banning libertarians/conservatives as manifestly anti-liberty, anti-democracy, and un-Australian.”

Lauren Southern

“This is yet another attack on free speech under an allegedly right-of-centre government,” Pellowe told Caldron Pool. “If they won’t defend free speech, who will? Why is Dutton’s department playing politics with a straight forward visa application?”

“This is a dangerous precedent for every future conservative speaker who has ideas the extreme left deem ‘hate speech’ simply because they hate what they’ve got to say. Southern has never been charged with a crime, let alone any record of conviction. This is purely political.”

Update

Lauren Southern has Tweeted, “To the people saying ‘she applied for the wrong visa’ I’ve taken the advice of immigration lawyers from day one. This twitter lawyering is silly. I have no interest in being banned from Aus and am still attempting to fight for my extremely delayed work visa.”