Candace Owens will be allowed to enter New Zealand after the government overturned a ban on her visa following a move by neighboring Australia to keep out the controversial commentator over remarks that have been criticized as antisemitic.
Owens, the former Daily Wire podcaster who has a following of millions on social media, will be permitted to enter New Zealand after a government official cited “the importance of free speech” in overturning a previous ban.
New Zealand’s immigration agency refused her an entertainer’s work permit in November on the ground that visas legally cannot be granted to those who have been excluded from another country.
Owens appealed the decision to Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk, according to a statement by Penk’s office on Thursday.
Penk, who is allowed discretion on visa decisions, granted Owens a visa “after considering representations made to him, including the importance of free speech,” the statement said.
Owens, who has denied being an antisemite after emerging as a critic of Israel, praised the decision.
She released a statement to The Post which read: “I am thrilled to be traveling to New Zealand to speak with the people, share ideas, and engage in meaningful conversations.”
“I applaud the Minister for standing up for the rights of individuals to engage in political discourse without fear of being silenced,” Owens said.
Owens remains barred from Australia, where she had been scheduled to make appearances before audiences who paid for tickets to hear her speak.
In October, Tony Burke, the Australian government minister in charge of immigration, barred Owens from the country over comments she made about gruesome Nazi experiments on Jewish death camp inmates during the Holocaust.
“From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about [Nazi physician Josef] Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction,” Burke said.
Owens blasted Burke on her show last month. She denied downplaying Mengele’s experiments and said that the Aussies were keeping her out because “people don’t want me to get in front of an audience” in order to talk about “the death taking place in Palestine.”
“They can’t produce [videos of] me discussing Mengele because it doesn’t exist,” Owens said on her show last month.
“If you’re speaking about someone so evil, why is a lie required?”
Earlier this year, Owens left Daily Wire after a public rift with that news site’s co-founder Ben Shapiro, a rabid Israel supporter, over the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas.
With Post Wires
