A member of a Tasmanian community choir was refused entry to the United Kingdom on Tuesday (July 5th) and deported because she was deemed to be trying to enter under false pretences - of being a tourist when she was an entertainer.
Maureen Lum was planning to sing in the back row of The Tasmanian Grassroots Union Choir , in a one off, one hour, public performance for which there was no fee, during a four week holiday in the UK.
Ms Lum was detained on arrival from Australia, body searched, interviewed, refused leave to enter and sent home on the next vailable flight. She is due back in Hobart today.
Ms Lum travelled ahead of the July 16th performance by The Tasmanian Grassroots Union Choir at the Tolpuddle Festival in Dorset. She rang choir founder and former Unions Tasmania secretary
Questioned about her visit by an immigration officer, she said she was going to sing at the Tolpuddle Festival. She was then told she was ineligible for a tourist visa, could not apply for an entertainers’ visa at the point of entry, subjected to a body search and deported.
“It’s quite incredible that Maureen was deported,” said an angry Simon Cocker. “She was treated as if she was trying to sneak in and take up residence.”
Ms Lum is one of 34 choir members who raised the money to go to the annual festival, which commemorates a group local agricultural labourers who banded together nearly 200 years ago, to stand up for their rights.
Known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, several were transported to Botany Bay, while their leader, George Loveless, was transported to Van Diemen’s Land.
Mr Cocker researched his story and is co-author of a 60-minute folk opera, “Loveless in Hobart Town”, which the choir was invited to perform at the festival. The folk opera is a triumphant story against injustice and draconian laws used by those in power - whoever, wherever - against the vulnerable.
Public outcry and a storm of protest caused the King to pardon Loveless and he returned to England a free man.
Ms Lum’s ordeal will be raised in the House of Commons, at the behest of the British Trade Union Congress, by a key figure in the Labor Opposition. And Tasmanian Labor Senator Lisa Singh will raise it with the British High Commissioner in Canberra.
The Cameron Government changed the UK’s immigration laws in May and amateur performing groups were brought under new visa regulations for entertainers. A list of big festivals, such as the Glastonbury opera festival, was drawn up, for which amateurs could be given entertainers’ visas under certain conditions.
The small, union organized Tolpuddle Festival wasn’t on the list and choir members had no idea they could end up being sentenced to transportation back to Tasmania.
“Going to Tolpuddle is about a cultural celebration of our common history with unionists in the UK and we were very excited to be invited, ” said Mr Cocker, who is due to fly out with other choir members this weekend.
“Maureen has been denied entry to the bloody country that we share a Queen with. We are all in shock at her harsh treatment.
“The decision may have been technically correct - as it was with George Loveless - but it was unreasonable and unjust .”
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Update 12 July
Maureen flew back to the UK after choir members rallied round to buy her a new ticket.
Tasmanian senator Lisa Singh took up Mrs Lum's case with the offices of Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who in turn contacted the British High Commission to resolve the matter, preventing the other choir members being caught as they also tried to enter the UK.
Ms Lum's ordeal made news in the UK with the Daily Mirror carrying the headline: "Ban on singing gran is off-key".
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