Anti-graft head needs visa

By GYNNIE KERO
The Australian judge appointed to head Papua New Guinea’s new corruption-fighting body cannot be granted a visa because he has not yet applied for one, an Immigration official says.
“How can he travel if he did not apply?” acting chief migration officer Solomon Kantha asked.
Australian judge Graham Ellis told Radio Australia that he has not been able to take up his appointment as chair of Papua New Guinea’s Interim Commission Against Corruption because no visa has been issued for his travel.
“I can’t go back without a visa and I haven’t heard anything to suggest that visa is ready or has been issued,” Ellis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The commission replaces the coordinating agency Taskforce Sweep.
Yesterday, Kantha said Ellis should first apply for a visa “at a PNG mission in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane or Cairns” before he can be issued with one.
“He (Ellis) has never applied for a visa,” Kantha said.
“All foreigners apply for a visa.
“No one enters any country without a visa.
“And you apply and sign application form individually.
“No one completes an application form for another person.
“And he has to apply for the appropriate visa providing relevant supporting documentation of his engagement.”
Ellis said he was worried that the delay in his arrival in PNG meant that the Taskforce Sweep investigation files were not being looked after.
“It strikes me that looking after the Taskforce Sweep files is important, so I’m particularly concerned that nothing might be happening in relation to files, and that would be very significant,” Ellis told ABC.