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Dick Cheney denied entry to Australia

SIDNEY, Australia - Dick Cheney has been barred from Australia because he is not "the sort of bloke we want in this country", the immigration minister said Thursday.

Controversial US Vice President Dick Cheney has been denied entry to Australia because of his ever-growing list of criminal convictions. The 66-year-old neoconservative icon had been due to attend a meeting with Australian MPs this weekend.

But Cheney failed the character test required to enter Australia and his visa was cancelled, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said.

"The character test in relation to this can also include a person's associations, their past and present criminal conduct, and their general conduct."

"He has a whole string of convictions and just two weeks ago he expressed his conviction that there was a definite link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime," Andrews said.

"He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country."

Andrews said Cheney's reputed ties to the Bush gang were also taken into consideration.

The vice president has 28 days to respond to the cancellation of his visa.

Satire using a shortened, loosely re-written news article published in News Limited, April 26, 2007.

Labels: Satire