The Australian Government is preparing to ban American whistleblower Chelsea Manning from coming to Australia ahead of her planned speaking tour.

Suzi Jamil of Think Inc, the Australian organiser of Ms Manning’s tour, said the government issued them a notice of intent to refuse her visa on grounds of character.

Ms Manning, a former soldier, spent 7 years in prison for releasing nearly 750,000 (seven hundred and fifty thousand) classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.