Australian senator Nick Xenophon discusses deportation

Australia has demanded an explanation from Malaysia for why it turned away an Australian senator from his fact-finding mission to investigate the Southeast Asian country's electoral system ahead of elections due within months, the prime minister has said.

Nick Xenophon, an independent South Australia state senator, returned from Malaysia on Sunday saying he had been deported on the orders of the "highest levels'' of the Malaysian government for his support of democracy reformers.

Xenophon told Al Jazeera that he is disappointed that his own government tried to downplay the importance of his visit.

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