CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – A government minister signaled Thursday that troubled R&B singer Chris Brown won’t be allowed to tour Australia in December because of his criminal conviction for assaulting pop star Rihanna.
Michaelia Cash, who was assistant minister for Immigration and Border Protection before a Cabinet reshuffle this week, said she would recommend that Immigration Minister Peter Dutton refuse the 25-year-old American a visa on character grounds.
“People need to understand if you are going to commit domestic violence and then you want to travel around the world, there are going to be countries that say to you: ‘You cannot come in because you are not of the character we expect in Australia,'” Cash, who is now minister for women, told reporters.
“This is a government that is not afraid to say: ‘no,'” she said.
She was backed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said Cash “has very brilliantly expressed the thoughts of the government.”