Controversial British historian David Irving says he is taking legal action against the New Zealand government for refusing him entry.
Irving, who's known as a holocaust denier, was not allowed to board a Qantas flight from Los Angeles airport on Friday night, after airline staff checked in with the New Zealand Immigration Service.
He needed special permission to enter the country, because he had previously been deported from Canada.
Irving was to have spoken at the National Press Club in Wellington, and says the government's action infringes rights of freedom of speech.
He says he is now pursuing legal action against the government but will not be taking any legal action against Qantas.
The author, whose views on the Holocaust have created storms of protest wherever he has spoken, was to have visited New Zealand to address the National Press Club on the issue.
Irving was travelling light when he turned up at the LA airport, because he said knew he wouldn't be travelling far.
When he arrived at the airport, he even had a letter already typed asking for a refund on his 500 pound fare.
He says he is prepared to defend his controversial Holocaust views, and will fight for the chance to present them in New Zealand.
"As far as I'm concerned the legal battle begins. I'm not satisfied with this. This is an insult to me as an Englishman, it's a scandal for New Zealand too. It's an attempt by the New Zealand government to stamp on free speech and it shouldn't be allowed to continue."
Irving says there is a double standard denying him entry to New Zealand because he was deported from Canada.
"That means somebody that's been deported from Nazi Germany is going to be automatically banned from New Zealand and that's obviously clearly wrong."
Chance to confront Kiwis
National Press Club Peter Isaac says the organisation wanted him here to face critics of his writings.
"He will meet people who were in the war who fought in the war and he will also meet several people who were in Hitler's camps who will talk to him."
However, Jewish community spokesperson David Zwartz says he disagrees with the press club's reasoning.
"On balance we think that his actual presence in New Zealand would do more harm than the controversy that's been created by not letting him come here."
That is an argument Helen Clark and Michael Cullen have already accepted by denying Irving entry, making it hard to see how any appeal to the immigration minister could have much success. A court challenge to the immigration ban could still be made, however.
