Controversial whistleblower Chelsea Manning will miss her scheduled appearance at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday due to ongoing doubts about the fate of her Australian visa.
Organisers of the Manning speaking tour told SBS News on Friday that they were still waiting to hear if the Australian government would go ahead with plans to cancel her visa on character grounds, or whether she would be allowed to come to speak in Melbourne and Brisbane.
“I feel a little bit defeated on the basis of that but we are still hopeful that she will still get granted her visa and she will still be able to make it into Australia,” Think Inc director Suzi Jamil said.
Ms Jamil said their contact at the Home Affairs department had said Ms Manning’s case was a “top priority”, and they remained hopeful her visa could be approved before scheduled appearances in Melbourne and Brisbane later in the week.
She said Chelsea Manning was still “on our side and backing us”.
“They just want us to ensure that we do everything in our power, in a respectful way, to get a positive outcome.”
Regardless of the visa outcome, the Opera House told ticketholders they would still have the chance to hear Manning speak.
They said the Manning's "in-conversation" event to be hosted by journalist Peter Greste will proceed via satellite video link direct from Los Angeles.
New Zealand authorities on Friday cleared the way for convicted American whistleblower Chelsea Manning to visit the country as part of a speaking tour, with the prime minister saying it's "a nation that allows free speech".
Manning, a former US army intelligence analyst best known as a leaker of classified military and diplomatic documents, for which she spent seven years behind bars, is scheduled to speak in Australia and New Zealand next month.
New Zealand's centre-right opposition this week called for the government to bar her from the country, saying she had put lives at risk and was profiting from her crimes.
However, Immigration New Zealand confirmed on Friday morning it had given Manning special dispensation to apply for a visa - a requirement for those who have served lengthy prison terms.
"While Ms Manning was convicted of a serious offence and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, it was noted that her sentence was commuted by President Obama in January 2017," INZ general manager Steve Stuart said.
Chelsea Manning could be denied entry into Australia under section 501 of the Migration Act. Source: AAP
"The likelihood of her offending while in New Zealand is considered low ... (we) could see no reason to believe Ms Manning would not comply with the terms and conditions of any visa."
The visa process in the case is being viewed as largely a formality.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Friday rejected opposition warnings Manning's visit would harm relations with the United States, but said the decision was for immigration authorities, not her, to make.
"We are a nation that allows free speech," she told reporters.
"I think there's interest in what she has to say and we should allow New Zealanders to hear that."
Opposition calls to keep Manning out because she was a "felon" and a "traitor" prompted outcry across New Zealand this week.
The Free Speech Coalition condemned the call for a ban and said citizens had the right to hear from someone who was "noteworthy albeit controversial".
The Green Party also backed her and spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman welcomed the INZ decision as a matter of national pride.
Manning's case is the second recent free speech debate in New Zealand after controversial far-right Canadian speakers Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern were barred from appearing in Auckland Council venues and Ardern told media the country was "hostile to their views".
The Manning decision comes after her tour organiser, Think Inc, said this week it had received a notice of intention to deny the former soldier entry into Australia under section 501 of the Migration Act.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale on Friday joined the Australian Lawyers Alliance and Amnesty International in lobbying for new immigration minister David Coleman to allow Manning in.
She was banned from entering Canada last year due to her criminal convictions in the US but was allowed to speak in Montreal in May.
