Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has personally denied visas for foreign hate mongers wanting to come to Australia. Photo: Facebook.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he couldn’t care less about freedom of speech when it comes to his role in stopping hatred being imported to Australia.
He has denied dozens of Australian visas being granted to foreign applicants because of media and online comments they have made which, he says, are designed to undermine social cohesion.
In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Mr Burke outlined how he has directed his department to prioritise social cohesion over freedom of speech when assessing visa applications.
The same applies when consideration is being given to whether visas should be cancelled.
The Minister, who was given the Home Affairs portfolio in July 2024, acknowledged that his approach might be different to some of his predecessors.
“There’s traditionally been a large number of people where the power to refuse was clearly there and in the name of freedom of speech, Ministers have said, ‘Oh no, let them in’,” he said in the interview.
“I could not care less about the freedom of speech argument if I’m in the business of stopping hatred from being imported to Australia.”
Mr Burke said immigration was ultimately a decision about who to let into Australia and who to deny that privilege.
If someone intends to disrupt social cohesion, he said, then “I don’t want them here”.
There have been about 100 visa applicants refused or cancelled since he became Minister, with a number denied by his personal intervention.
American rapper Kanye West’s visa was blocked under the new visa regime after he released his song Heil Hitler.
Some right-wing Israeli speakers have also had their visa applications denied.
One high-profile former Israeli politician denied was Ayelet Shaked, over a strongly worded 2014 social media statement she made (citing one of her ministerial briefings), in which she referred to the children of terrorists as “little snakes” who had to go.
Mr Burke said, “There was no way” he would allow her to come to Australia.
“If someone wanted to come to Australia for a public speaking event, and they were on the record describing Jewish children as reptiles, would I let them in?” he said.
“The answer was no,” he said.
Liberal Party frontbencher and former Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson expressed concern over the Minister’s candid revelations.
He suggested Mr Burke had not always been consistent and that not everyone was being held to the same standards.
“I’m cautious because what it does is empower the Minister,” Mr Wilson told Nine’s Today show.
“You need to make sure that there are clear guidelines that are broadly, equally applicable.
“If people are going to advocate for harm against Australians, the standard should be consistent, not based on what the Minister simply decides based on the whim of the day or his political considerations.”
Mr Wilson said when the Coalition was in office in 2018, Mr Burke had “advocated for a visa for somebody who believed in the enslavement and the punishment of homosexuals and the subjugation of women”.
Mr Wilson was referring to a business visa application for an Islamic extremist.
But Mr Burke denied the suggestion, saying he was “really surprised” Mr Wilson would make that accusation on commercial television.
The Minister told the ABC that he never advocated for that hate preacher to be granted a visa.
“To claim that I did would be untrue and defamatory,” Mr Burke said.
“It’s wrong. It was wrong then, and I’m not sure if he’s just being reckless, making things up, or lying.
“But if he reckons there’s a letter of me doing that, he should provide it. Because there’s not.”
Mr Burke also insisted that the directive to his department was in accordance with a principle enshrined in legislation allowing him to go down that path to deny visas.
“It’s up to the Minister whether you want to use it or not, but if you think someone’s going to incite discord, you can refuse their visa, or cancel their visa,” he said.
“And for me, you know, when you talk about all the different hatreds that are around the world, there’s one thing that people keep saying, which is they don’t want hatred imported here …
“If someone has got a record of just trying to blow issues up and turn people against each other, we don’t need them here.
“I’m really relaxed about saying to someone who wants to come here, incite discord and spread hatred, ‘You can go to another country, we don’t need it here. ’”
