Burchett Back In Aust.

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32235, 2 March 1970, Page 13

Burchett Back In Aust.

(N Z. Press Asin.— Copyright) q MELBOURNE, Mar. 1.! Wilfred Burchett, aged 1 58, the Australian jour- , nalist who was refused a i passport by the Australian Government, arrived ( home without difficulty ' yesterday to end an i “exile” of 15 years. Mr Burchett, who has reported both the Korean and ' Vietnam wars ..-om the Communist side, says he lost his Australian passport in 1955. The Government has refused to disclose its reasons for refusing a new- passport, but it did say that it would neither help nor hinder Mr Burchett if he wished to re-; enter Australia. He arrived by air at Bris-i bane yesterday from Noumea, aboard an aircraft chartered by a Melbourne newspaper, the “Sunday Observer ” He spent half an hour in Customs, but told reporters later that the Customs officers had been most courteous, and had not asked to see a passport. “1 told them I had a typewriter, a transistor radio i and a watch, and that was it,” he said. Demonstrators for and against Mr Burchett chanted ; slogans outside the airport: passenger terminal as he was . giving a brief press conference inside. "The Australian Government has violated my rights by refusing to register my, children as Australian citizens," he told reporters. “They are growing up now and it is important that they should have these documents “I want to bring my wife and children back to Australia to show them the country, and if the Govern-

ment refuses to grant my children Australian citizenship, I’m prepared to challenge this in court. “I may also take the matter of my passport further if the Government refuses to give: me one," he added. Mr Burchett said he did not consider any of his actions in the past had been traitorous. “I’d be prepared to face a treason charge if! the Government was so un-i likely as to bring one against me," he said. Mr Burchett went on to say that he would spend two or three weeks in Australia before returning to Paris, where he has been reporting the Vietnam peace talks. Mr Burchett later boarded;

t\i flight for Melbourne with •his brother, Mr Winston y Burchett, and his lawyer, Mr i Frank Galbally. A Commonwealth Govern- “ ment spokesman said in Cant berra last night that the fact that no action has been taken t against Mr Burchett on his >'arrival represented no change Lin policy. I spokesman for the flMinister of Immigration (Mr •IP. R. Lynch) said: “The ■ Government’s decision was that it would not grant Mr ■Burchett a passport or facili- • State his travel in any way. -i At no time has it said that : he could, or would, he pre- !, vented entry if he should reach Australia without a I; passport.”