0/5

Drama for 60 Minutes crew in Kiribati

Visa problem for 60 Minutes means Liam Bartlett & crew will leave Pacific island without filming.

Liam Bartlett and a 60 Minutes crew are awaiting a flight home from the Pacific island of Kiribati, amid media reports they have been detained.

Radio New Zealand reported that the five-member crew was detained soon after it arrived in the central Pacific island nation on Monday.

The matter is believed to have been related to not having visas approved, but no filming had yet taken place.

RNZ Pacific reported the 60 Minutes will be deported to Fiji on Thursday.

RNZ Pacific quoted a government source as saying the five-member TV crew were arrested shortly after their arrival on the island.

It is understood they are under police supervision at the Utirerei Motel until a flight out of the country on Thursday.

“The 60 Minutes crew travelled to Kiribati on Monday,” a Nine statement read.

“Before leaving, they submitted applications for filming approval. On arrival they arranged a meeting with authorities including the Executive Assistant of the President and a senior representative of the Immigration Department to discuss the application.

“Further forms were submitted and a request was made for expedited approval. That request was declined this morning and the 60 Minutes team were asked to remain in their hotel until the next flight out, which was their scheduled departure flight.

“The crew is not under detention or house arrest, as has been incorrectly reported, and the issue does not affect the story being worked on.”

The Kiribati government is expected to make a statement later on Wednesday.

Update:  6PR host Simon Beaumont said he’d been exchanging texts with Liam Bartlett and he said he was under ‘house arrest.’

Source: New Daily

3 Responses

  1. When I saw the word Kiribati I thought “Oh no, not another “investigation” by the leftists at the SMH and The Age”. This time it would have been a story about how the island is supposedly sinking due to “climate change” even though ABC fact checking reveals that the land mass of Kiribati has actually *increased* over the past 20 years, not decreased.

    And a final word to 60 Minutes if they are thinking of going back. Please don’t bother. We have heard it all before and we know that it is BS.

    1. Not so. Bartlett reportedly intended filming a story about the island’s government’s decision to cut ties with Taiwan. This would relate to stories on China’s influence in the Pacific. Vanuatu TV is now controlled by Chinese. No doubt someone at 60 Minutes thought of copying a recent ABC program on the massive Rainbow City Chinese interests are building.

Leave a Reply