JANNIE and Amanda Klue, their eyes wide with desperation, are staring at two distinctly different futures.
One future embodies the Australian dream: running their own business, living in their own house, building community ties and watching their two children, Jan-Sari, 9, and Pieter-Nick, 6, flourish in an environment that is far removed from their homeland.
The Klues have been living that dream since migrating to the Sunshine Coast from South Africa 22 months ago.
The other future is a bleak one: a barb wire-fenced home with security cameras, guard dogs and streets deemed too unsafe for their children.
The Klues lived that nightmare in South Africa. And now they have been told they must return to it.
Having sold everything before moving to Australian on Christmas Day, 2007, the family must leave the country after their application for a state-sponsored business-owner visa has been rejected.
On Monday, the Klues learned they have until October 19 to get out of the country after they received two-week bridging visas.
In a bid to stave off deportation. Jan-Sari wrote a letter to Anna Bligh this week, in which she pleaded with the premier to help her family.
“We don’t want to leave Australia,” she wrote.
“My mum and dad has (sic) come to Australia for my brother and my future.”
Mr Klue said on Friday that he had bought a business – Middy’s grocery store at Buderim – as required under the business-owner visa and had ticked every other box, bar one.
He said he couldn’t sufficiently prove to immigration officials that one of the two money-lending businesses he had owned in South Africa was actually his and, as a result, the family didn’t meet the visa’s minimum-assets requirement.
“I thought everything would work out,” Mr Klue said.
“I’m not a fugitive or a criminal … they will show discretion and let commonsense prevail.”
Fighting tears, Mrs Klue described the situation as “unreal”.
“It shouldn’t have come to this,” she said.
Mrs Klue said her children were well-established at Buderim Mountain Primary School and the family now considered themselves Aussies.
An immigration spokeswoman said the Klues simply didn’t meet the criteria for a state-sponsored business-owner visa, and then failed to lodge their appeal against the ruling on time.
She said applicants must show they owned and directly managed a business with a turnover of at least $300,000 for two of the past four fiscal years, or had a successful record as a senior manager.
“Entering Australia on a temporary visa does not mean you have an ongoing right to remain in Australia,” she said.
A spokesman for Ms Bligh said while immigration was a federal government matter, state officials were talking to immigration officials about the Klues’ case.
All the latest NEWS from Perth 
Gordon Ramsay targets Tracy Grimshaw in rant
Posted in Local News, tagged A Current Affair, a lesbian, a pig, activities., animal, audience, Australian journalist, Botox doctor, celebrity chef, Channel Nine, Chef, chief executive, comedian, comment, commented, cook, cooking., create, crowd, Current Affair, David Gyngell, depicting a woman, depictions, deriding her looks?, describe lesbians., dump him Australia., executive producer, facial mole, food and wine, food expo, FOUL-mouthed, Friday nightsponsor, gasps, get paid, Good Food and Wine Show, Gordon Ramsay., Grant Williams, great relationship, Grimshaw, Grimshaw's, Grimshaw's sexual preference, Hell's Kitchen, high profile, highly derogatory, holy crap, immediately, impress, inappropriate, incident, interview, interviewed, joke, kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, LG, Local News, looks, major sponsor, Melbourne, Melinda Tankard Reist, money, nightmare., Nine's, obscene, of women., out of order., pretty good, programs, public, publicly, putrid tirade, Ramsay's sponsors, rating highly, reacted, references, remove, send him packing.", sexist rant., sexuality, shocked, shocked audiences, Simon Cowell's, spokeswoman for Ramsay, sponsors, stunt, Sunday Herald Sun reports., support, term, The Chaser.", too far, Tracy Grimshaw, trip, verbal abuse, vilifying, wart, Women's Forum Australia on June 7, 2009| 2 Comments »
The putrid tirade, which included references to Grimshaw’s looks, sexuality and depictions of her as a pig, shocked audiences who went to see the celebrity chef at the Good Food and Wine Show in Melbourne.
Ramsay told an audience of several thousand people that Grimshaw was “a lesbian”, the Sunday Herald Sun reports.
When the crowd reacted with gasps, he said: “What? I’m not saying she’s a …”
The phrase that Ramsay used was a highly derogatory term often used to describe lesbians.
Ramsay also showed a picture of a woman – who appeared to be naked – on her hands and knees with the features of a pig and multiple breasts.
Tracy Grimshaw,” he told the audience. “I had an interview with her yesterday – holy crap.
“She needs to see Simon Cowell’s Botox doctor.”
Ramsay – who later dismissed the comments as a joke – went on with more innuendos about Grimshaw’s sexual preference and activities.
The crude remarks did not impress Channel Nine chief executive David Gyngell, who phoned Ramsay to tell him they were inappropriate and that he had gone too far.
Just a year ago, the celebrity chef had been lauded as the network’s saviour, with his programs Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares rating highly.
Mandy Saunders was at the food expo with her two children and elderly mother.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing – it was disgusting,” Ms Saunders said.
“The show is meant for families. That was way out of order.”
Anthony Kavroulas was also in the audience at Ramsay’s performance.
“What can I say? It was totally sexist,” Mr Kavroulas said.
Women’s groups also expressed their disgust, saying it was wrong that Ramsay was making money by comparing women with animals.
Melinda Tankard Reist, from Women’s Forum Australia, said Ramsay’s sponsors should dump him and he should leave Australia.
“Ramsay’s sexist and demeaning actions are offensive to every Australian woman,” Ms Reist said.
“Why should he get paid for depicting a woman as an animal and publicly deriding her looks?
“He shouldn’t be making money through the verbal abuse of women.
“Gordon Ramsay is no longer welcome here. The sponsors of his trip should immediately remove their support and send him packing.”
LG, a major sponsor of the Good Food and Wine Show, said it did not want to comment on the incident.
Ramsay appeared on Nine’s A Current Affair and was interviewed by Tracy Grimshaw on Friday night.
During the interview, he commented on Grimshaw’s facial mole, asking: “Is that a wart? It looks like your little sister’s on your lip.”
Grimshaw appeared to take that remark well.
But A Current Affair executive producer Grant Williams said yesterday the chef had gone too far and should stick to cooking and lay off the comedy.
“We know Gordon Ramsay sets out to shock, but if what we’re being told is true, we’re very surprised,” Williams said.
“Frankly, although it’s plainly a joke, it’s out of order.
“Gordon has proved here that he doesn’t need to be in the kitchen to create a nightmare.
“As a comedian, he makes a pretty good cook. Maybe he’d be better off at The Chaser.”
A spokeswoman for Ramsay said the stunt was just a joke and should have been taken as one.
“He really respects Tracy Grimshaw as a journalist. It was just a joke,” Sarah Armstrong said.
“She interviews him every time he comes to Australia. They have a great relationship.”
Source www.news.com.au
Read Full Post »