104-year-old keen to stay in Australia

A 104-year-old Chinese woman's family still hopes she can stay in Australia, even after a Government tribunal yesterday rejected her final appeal for a permanent visa.

Cui Yu Hu arrived in Melbourne in 1995 on a 12-month tourist visa but no airline would take her home because she was too old and frail. She remained in Australia illegally before applying for an aged parent visa.

But the Migration Review Tribunal has found that she was not entitled to a visa, because she overstayed her initial visa.

However, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has said she would be willing to consider using her discretion to overrule the tribunal on humanitarian grounds if Hu's family made a formal application. Hu's spokesman Chap Chow said her family was confident Vanstone would allow her to stay.