An Australian travel agent is refusing to sell holidays to the Indonesian island of Bali in protest against the treatment of alleged Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby.
The 27-year-old is accused of trying to smuggle more than four kilograms of marijuana into the Indonesian island of Bali last October, a crime punishable by firing squad.
Tony Foster, who runs a travel agency in the island state of Tasmania, says he believes Ms Corby is not receiving a fair trial in Indonesia.
He says his refusal to sell holiday packages to Bali is his way of making a personal protest against the Indonesian justice system.
“I’ve just taken the stance, the personal stance that I’m not going to sell Bali as a travel destination,” Mr Foster said.
“If people come in and want to go to that type of holiday, I will probably suggest Phuket, Fiji, Vanuatu.
“But if they insist on Bali, I’ll say, well look there’s a travel agent just up the road that will be able to help you.”
More: abc.net.au
Related Travel Information
The Australian government announced Wednesday that it will fully privatize the national telecommunications giant Telstra and sell its stake in the group.
The sale of the government's 30 billion Australian dollar stake(about 22.8 billion US dollars) has been approved by the ruling coalition MPs and senators.
The offer for sale of the government's 51.8 percent stake will be presented to the federal parliament for approval in a fortnight, according to Prime Minister John Howard.
He described the sale as an important step in the privatization process launched by
A Tasmanian travel agent will stop selling holidays to Bali if alleged Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby is found guilty by an Indonesian court.
Tony Foster, who runs Harvey World Travel in Hobart and is also the mayor of Brighton, said he intended to take the action as a "personal protest" against the Indonesian judiciary.
"I am not advocating that people boycott going to Bali, I am just saying I will not be involved in promoting it as a destination," he said.
"I will probably suggest alternatives.
"A lot of the time when people come in they are looking at two or three different
Indonesian officials have played down a warning issued by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), that terrorists are in what is described as the very advanced stages of planning attacks in Indonesia.
The warning, posted on the Australian Government's travel website, says the attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia.
"We continue to receive a stream of credible reporting suggesting that terrorists are in the very advanced stages of planning attacks in Indonesia," the warning said.
"Attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia and could be directed at any locations known to be
A MAN facing a string of sex offences in Brisbane is considered too fat to answer the charges in court.
The 58-year-old West Australian, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with six counts of indecent dealing with a child under 16.
The offences happened between 1979 and 1982 while the man was living in Brisbane.
During a mention of the matter in Brisbane District Court today, a Crown representative told the court that a doctor's report from Western Australia had declared the man was too large to travel interstate to face the Queensland charges.
The report claimed he was "morbidly
IF foreign travel correlates with economic well-being, the Japanese are feeling better about themselves.
That ought to be cheering Australian inbound tourism operators, too. But, actually, there's anxiety about Australia's second most valuable offshore market, worth an estimated $2.05 billion last year.
The numbers, though better than they have been, suggest Japanese travellers are just not as enthralled by the great southern land as they once were.
In the first quarter of this year, Japanese travel to Australia grew 5 per cent on the same period of 2004. But, overall, Japanese travel increased 15 per cent and China, Korea, Hawaii and
