DEPORTATION CANCELLED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27317, 17 February 1950, Page 5

DEPORTATION CANCELLED

Indonesian Wile Of Australian New Government’s Action NZP A—Copyright Rec. 0.10 a.m. CANBERRA, Feb. 16. The Federal Government has decided to allow Mrs O’Keefe, the Indonesian wife of an Australian, and her children to remain in Australia, and the Filipino sergeant, Lorenzo Gamboa, to return to rejoin his Australian wife provided he can obtain employment Frank Jang, a Chinese farmer in North Queensland, will also be allowed to remain in Australia.

Announcing this today, the Minister for Immigration, Mr H. E. Holt, said the Government did not intend to enforce as a matter of course the repatriation of every non-European who entered Australia during the war, but to deal with such cases on their individual merits. The Government has rejected the applications for readmission of Clarence Reeves, known as the “Alabama Kid,” and Alexander Tiger ” Parks, two American negro boxers who married Australian women. The deportation order issued against Mrs O’Keefe by the former Minister for Immigration, Mr A, A. Calwell, and his refusal to allow Gamboa, a Filipino-born member of the United States forces in Australia during the war, to return aroused widespread interest. Mr Calwell’s action was bitterly assailed by the then Opposition in the Federal Parliament, but, with the backing of the Chifley Government, Mr Calwell refused to budge from his stand in spite of unfavourable criticism of an “ over-strict application of the White Australia policy.’