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22 October 2010
Australian spy agency reveals Australian Visa and passport rejections in annual report
The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has revealed in its annual report that it rejected 19 visa applications and cancelled eight Australian passports last financial year.
Fourteen of the adverse Australian Visa assessments were made on counter-terrorism grounds and five were refused as counter-espionage measures.
The report says that this result is more than the previous year and reflects an increase in the number of Australians identified as seeking to travel overseas for terrorist activities.
ASIO director-general David Irvine spoke yesterday of the grave terrorism threat to Australia and said the risk now is just as real as it was in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, with ASIO and its partners investigating hundreds of counter-terrorism matters.
Mr Irvine highlighted the value of community tip-offs to thwarted threats and the support from police, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of National Assessments and Defence Intelligence.
The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people lodge their Australian Visa application with the Australian High Commission.
