Kanye West's Australian visa axed over Heil Hitler song
Immigration officials made the decision to deny the controversial musician access to the country after listening to his track "Heil Hitler", which was released earlier in the year.
West is married to Melbourne woman Bianca Censori.
"He's been coming to Australia for a long time ... he's got family here and he's made a lot of offensive comments," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"My officials looked at it again once he released the 'Heil Hitler' song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia."
West's axed visa had not entitled him to perform in the country but was at a "lower level", Mr Burke added.
"The officials still looked at the law and said, 'if you're going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia'," he said.
The song included the phrase: "So I became a Nazi ... I'm the villain".
The chorus "Ni**a, heil Hitler" is chanted by a group of men standing in formation.
West, who prefers to be referred to as Ye, frequently raps about being misunderstood and his custody battles with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The winner of 24 Grammys was dropped by his talent agency earlier in the year after he posted a stream of anti-Semitic comments on social media and put T-shirts bearing swastika up for sale in his online shop.
Shopify, the company that provided the online platform for West's fashion brand Yeezy, previously took the store offline.
West also made a controversial appearance with Ms Censori at the Grammy Awards earlier in the year, when she appeared virtually naked in a sheer mini-dress after removing her fur coat.
US rapper Kayne West has had his Australian visa cancelled over a controversial song referencing Adolf Hitler in which the singer claims to be a Nazi.
Immigration officials made the decision to deny the controversial musician access to the country after listening to his track "Heil Hitler", which was released earlier in the year.
West is married to Melbourne woman Bianca Censori.
"He's been coming to Australia for a long time ... he's got family here and he's made a lot of offensive comments," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"My officials looked at it again once he released the 'Heil Hitler' song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia."
West's axed visa had not entitled him to perform in the country but was at a "lower level", Mr Burke added.
"The officials still looked at the law and said, 'if you're going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia'," he said.
The song included the phrase: "So I became a Nazi ... I'm the villain".
The chorus "Ni**a, heil Hitler" is chanted by a group of men standing in formation.
West, who prefers to be referred to as Ye, frequently raps about being misunderstood and his custody battles with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The winner of 24 Grammys was dropped by his talent agency earlier in the year after he posted a stream of anti-Semitic comments on social media and put T-shirts bearing swastika up for sale in his online shop.
Shopify, the company that provided the online platform for West's fashion brand Yeezy, previously took the store offline.
West also made a controversial appearance with Ms Censori at the Grammy Awards earlier in the year, when she appeared virtually naked in a sheer mini-dress after removing her fur coat.
US rapper Kayne West has had his Australian visa cancelled over a controversial song referencing Adolf Hitler in which the singer claims to be a Nazi.
Immigration officials made the decision to deny the controversial musician access to the country after listening to his track "Heil Hitler", which was released earlier in the year.
West is married to Melbourne woman Bianca Censori.
"He's been coming to Australia for a long time ... he's got family here and he's made a lot of offensive comments," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"My officials looked at it again once he released the 'Heil Hitler' song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia."
West's axed visa had not entitled him to perform in the country but was at a "lower level", Mr Burke added.
"The officials still looked at the law and said, 'if you're going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia'," he said.
The song included the phrase: "So I became a Nazi ... I'm the villain".
The chorus "Ni**a, heil Hitler" is chanted by a group of men standing in formation.
West, who prefers to be referred to as Ye, frequently raps about being misunderstood and his custody battles with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The winner of 24 Grammys was dropped by his talent agency earlier in the year after he posted a stream of anti-Semitic comments on social media and put T-shirts bearing swastika up for sale in his online shop.
Shopify, the company that provided the online platform for West's fashion brand Yeezy, previously took the store offline.
West also made a controversial appearance with Ms Censori at the Grammy Awards earlier in the year, when she appeared virtually naked in a sheer mini-dress after removing her fur coat.
US rapper Kayne West has had his Australian visa cancelled over a controversial song referencing Adolf Hitler in which the singer claims to be a Nazi.
Immigration officials made the decision to deny the controversial musician access to the country after listening to his track "Heil Hitler", which was released earlier in the year.
West is married to Melbourne woman Bianca Censori.
"He's been coming to Australia for a long time ... he's got family here and he's made a lot of offensive comments," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"My officials looked at it again once he released the 'Heil Hitler' song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia."
West's axed visa had not entitled him to perform in the country but was at a "lower level", Mr Burke added.
"The officials still looked at the law and said, 'if you're going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia'," he said.
The song included the phrase: "So I became a Nazi ... I'm the villain".
The chorus "Ni**a, heil Hitler" is chanted by a group of men standing in formation.
West, who prefers to be referred to as Ye, frequently raps about being misunderstood and his custody battles with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The winner of 24 Grammys was dropped by his talent agency earlier in the year after he posted a stream of anti-Semitic comments on social media and put T-shirts bearing swastika up for sale in his online shop.
Shopify, the company that provided the online platform for West's fashion brand Yeezy, previously took the store offline.
West also made a controversial appearance with Ms Censori at the Grammy Awards earlier in the year, when she appeared virtually naked in a sheer mini-dress after removing her fur coat.
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Junk playgrounds contained loose elements – building and scrap materials, natural elements and tools – that kids controlled themselves, sharing and negotiating with each other. English landscape architect Marjory Allen, who imported them to Britain, the US and Japan, declared: 'Better a broken bone than a broken spirit.' This plucky ethos suited a postwar generation that grew up scampering over London bomb sites. The Blitz spirit transferred nicely to the relatively safe terrain of the junk/adventure playground. The adventure playground movement spawned regional examples worldwide. Well-loved local versions sprang up in St Kilda, Fitzroy and The Venny in Kensington. As The Venny's honorary principal, David Kutcher, explained in the first of a series of accompanying talks for the exhibition: 'The risk of any loss through physical injury is actually low. Children require exposure to setbacks, failures, shocks and stumbles in order to develop strength and self-reliance and resilience. The road to resilience is paved with risk.' As modernism took hold in the 1950s and '60s, industrialisation infiltrated the playground. Concrete was one response. Steel and plastics were another. For Burkhalter, the Swiss-designed modular play sculpture the Lozziwurm from 1972 is emblematic of the new industrial materials. It also prompts one of the key forms of socialisation – negotiating with others. There is no one way to travel through the worm. The idea is that kids sort it out. Loading Risk aversion reached its apotheosis in the 1970s in the US. 'It made sense at the beginning because playgrounds were so badly maintained that there were a lot of accidents,' says Burkhalter. Today, while all manner of regulations govern community facilities, there is also recognition that safety needn't hamper creative play and risk-taking. Risk is built into artist Mike Hewson's controversial Southbank playground Rocks on Wheels. Its ad hoc charm – part Heath Robinson, part Wile E. Coyote – looks set to detonate at any time. Its teetery quality encourages risk and creativity as the playground itself looks like it's been built by a child. Artists feature prominently in the exhibition. Burkhalter's initial interest in playgrounds was inspired by the heroic dedication of Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. For more than 30 years, from 1933 to 1966, Noguchi planned a range of playgrounds, from landscapes to sculptural equipment. Most went unrealised. He once recalled pitching his Play Mountain to Robert Moses, New York's imperious city planner, who 'just laughed his head off and more or less threw us out'. Among Burkhalter's own urban planning colleagues, the reaction to the playground project was almost as dismissive as Moses. 'Playgrounds were considered small and not very prestigious,' she says. And this despite the outsized influence of Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, who said that 'play is the work of childhood'. Burkhalter remained undaunted: 'I understood that the people who were active in these fields had visions about design, society, childhood. That fascinated me.' Terrill is one of three Australian artists who feature in the Melbourne show. Trawlwoolway multidisciplinary artist Edwina Green won the competition to design a First Nations playable public art sculpture. Her abstracted oyster honours the cultural significance of the Maribyrnong River and 'invites children to play, imagine, and connect with Country', she says. Artist Emily Floyd and designer Mary Featherston literally bring the politics of play and community cooperation to the table. The pair's Round Table includes a child-height table and chairs; each of its elements – day care, infant health, kindergarten – is a seat at the table. Indeed the exhibition highlights that playgrounds aren't just about children. Professor Mel Dodd, dean of art, design and architecture at Monash University, says: 'The health and wellbeing of families in smaller, increasingly denser environments relies on public places that you not only can safely bring your child to play, but also socialise yourself. Amenity of that nature is absolutely critical.' Playgrounds also offer citywide lessons. 'The design of the public realm can be playful for adults as well as children,' says Dodd. 'It's definitely the case that playfulness aids health and wellbeing. We need our public environments to look fantastic, to look exciting.'
