Why the Govt refused a Dutch athlete’s visa

The Federal Government has rejected the visa of a Dutch beach volleyball player due to a conviction of child rape. Steven van de Velde had sought to enter Australia for the world beach volleyball championships in Adelaide, being held in November. In today’s episode, we explain the context behind the government’s decision, including van de Velde’s crime, his sentencing, and his continued athletic career. 

Hosts: Lucy Tassell and Emma Gillespie
Producer: Orla Maher

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just a heads up. Today's episode contains distressing themes, including
discussions of child sexual abuse. Listener, discretion is advised already
And this is the Daily This is the Daily os Oh,
now it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily Odds. It's Thursday,
the thirtieth of October.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm Lucy Tassel, I'm Emma Gillespie.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
The Federal government has rejected the visa of a Dutch
beach volleyball player due to a conviction of child rape.
Stephen van Dervelt had sought to enter Australia for the
World Beach Volleyball Championships in Adelaide, being held in November.
In today's episode, we explain the context behind the government's decision,
including Van der Veldt's crime, his sentencing, and his continued

(00:51):
athletic career.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Lucy, this story has been bubbling away for a few
few weeks now. There was a change dot org petition
that emerged in the last few weeks essentially seeking to
block this beach volleyballer, Stephen Vandervelt from entering Australia. So
can you take me back to the start. Who is
this guy and what do we need to know about him.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
So. Stephen van Derveld is a beach volleyball player from
the Netherlands. He's represented his country at the highest level.
He's currently thirty one years old, and most importantly, he
is a child sex offender. Back in twenty fourteen, he
was nineteen at the time, so an adult. He repeatedly
messaged a British twelve year old girl on Facebook. They

(01:41):
had kind of met on Facebook, and he then flew
to England where he raped her. His defense team later
argued that the girl had consented, but given she was
a twelve year old child at the time, she could
not actually give consent.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
So, Lucy, I'm assuming this obviously went to based on
the fact. You know, you've mentioned defense team, a legal team.
How did authorities get involved in the first place?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, So Vandervelt told the girl to take the morning
after pill and given her age. When she went to
a local clinic, staff alerted authorities. He was already on
his way back to the Netherlands at that time, so
he flew in one day the rape occurred. He went
back home straight away. In February twenty sixteen, he pleaded

(02:29):
guilty to three counts of child rape. He was sentenced
to four years in jail in March of that year,
twenty sixteen.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Wow, that is extremely disturbing but fascinating that authorities really
only learned about this because that young young girl went
to a clinic seeking the morning after pill.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yes, so then at the time the judge said, quote,
she was a child age twelve. You were fully aware
of that fact. You were a potential olympian. You had
the possibility of a stellar future presenting the Netherlands, referring
that to the then upcoming twenty sixteen Summer Olympics.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
We'll be right back with more of today's deep dive
right after a quick word from our sponsor, So Lucy,
there were the twenty sixteen Summer Olympics. I'm assuming Van
der Veld missed those because he was sentenced to imprisonment
following that child rape incident. But we're obviously talking about

(03:27):
him today nearly ten years later. So he has served
his time and made a return to professional sport. How
did that unfold?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
A year into his four year sentence, Vandervelt was allowed
to return to the Netherlands to serve the rest of
his time.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Okay, so he went to a UK prison because that's
where the crime occurred.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, so he had been extradited to the UK to
face charges. He pleads guilty, he serves a year of
jail time under a treaty between the two countries. He
was then returned to the Netherlands to finish out the sentence.
But something I didn't know about until researching this story
is how different the laws governing child sexual abuse were
in the Netherlands at the time. Specifically, they have since

(04:11):
been updated in some respects. So Vandervelt's actions were then
considered less serious under Dutch law as they would have
been under British law. They were classified as basically in
decent assault. Some of the other sources I was looking
at said fornication, which is kind of an archaic word.
I think that might have just been a translation thing.

(04:33):
But the general gist that I got is that this
was something that was considered rape under British law in
decent assault under Dutch law, okay, And that meant that
soon after he returned to the Netherlands to serve out
his time, his sentence was reconsidered essentially under Dutch law,
because if he was serving time there, then he was
under their law. That meant that. About a month after

(04:55):
returning to the Netherlands, he was freed from jail and
his professional sporting care continued. In fact, he was named
to the Dutch beach volleyball team for the twenty twenty
four Paris Olympics.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Wow. Yeah, what was the reaction like to that from
within the sporting world.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Within the sporting world, it was a mixed reaction. People
booed him at his events at the Games, and he
stayed outside of the athletes village and at the time,
the head of Australia's Olympic team, Ana Mears, said words
to the effect of if that had happened here, you
wouldn't have been allowed to compete. But obviously the Netherlands

(05:36):
Volleyball Association had a different perspective ahead of the games
kicking off, they said. Quote. After his release, Vandervelt sought
and received professional counseling. He has demonstrated to those around
him privately and professionally self insight and reflection, they also said. Quote.
In twenty sixteen, Van Derveldt was convicted in England of

(05:57):
having sex with an underage girl, which who is rape
under English law and fornication under Dutch law, so you
can really see there are these two different standards that
are being applied to the same crime depending on the country.
In the Anti did compete and the men's beach volleyball
team came ninth.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
So all of that was last year. We're talking about
the July Paris Olympics. It's now more than a year
later and his presence at a sporting event has caused
disruption and dispute. Again, this is a professional athlete who
is a convicted child sex offender. What has happened in
the last few weeks? Why is he back in the headlines.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Vandervelt was selected to represent the Netherlands at the World
Championships of Beach Volleyball that are taking place in Adelaide
next month, and he's got a partner in this because
it's the paired sport, Alexander Brewer. A petition was then
started by activist group What Were You Wearing Australia to
block him from entering the country on the grounds that

(06:57):
he has this child sexual abuse offense. As that petition
picked up steam, South Australian Attorney General Kaya Mar wrote
to the federal government asking it to cancel Vandervelt's visa
he said, quote, this individual's offending is utterly abhorrent and
we do not believe that foreign sex offenders should be
granted entry to this country. We've discussed on this podcast

(07:20):
before when we were talking about Candice Owens. Yes, the
federal government can refuse visa's Minister Tony Burke, the Home
Affairs Minister has a few different grounds to refuse someone
entry to the country.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Absolutely. That role is set up basically to give the
Home Affairs Minister a range of powers to decide when
or if someone should not be allowed into the country.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah. So one of those reasons is if they believe
allowing someone to enter Australia would not be in the
best interests of Australian children, and the minister can flag
a character concern which can include I'm quoting directly from
the Act here, a court in Australia or a foreign
country has convicted the person of one or more sexually

(08:03):
based defenses involving a child. So obviously Van Dervelt has
three charges of child rape in the UK. That would
be the grounds and that is why we believe his
visa has been rejected.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Okay, so his convictions immediately meet those qualifications. For a
visa cancelation. What has the reaction been like? Because obviously
he still competes as a professional athlete in some countries
and obviously in his home country, but there is this
international event in Adelaide that he is now excluded from.

(08:35):
What's the reaction been like.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
The Dutch Volleyball Association confirmed the decision. It said it
quote regrets the outcome but accepts it. Van Dervelt also
said he understood why this had happened. He said his
criminal conviction made approval quote a problem. The Netherlands have
withdrawn from the event as his teammate can't compete without him.

(08:59):
It's a paired sport. And Volleyball Australia acknowledged the ruling,
saying it was awaiting a decision from the International Beach
Volleyball Association on the possibility of a quote replacement team.
I think to make up the numbers in the brackets.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Wow, a very disturbing, fascinating story. Thank you so much
for taking us through that one today, Lucy. Thanks Emma,
and if today's episode has raised any concerns for you,
help is available through one eight hundred respect on one
eight hundred seven three seven seven three to two or
during business hours on weekdays. You can also contact the
Brave Hearts hotline for adult survivors of child sexual abuse.

(09:37):
They're available on one eight hundred two seven two eight
three one. We will of course put those numbers in
the episode description. That's it for today's Deep Dive, but
we will be back this afternoon with your evening headlines.
Until then, have a good day.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Bungelung Chalcottin woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest
Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.