Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia website disappears after Labor passes sweeping hate speech laws
The website of a controversial pan-Islamist group targeted by new hate speech laws went offline just hours after MPs took to the floor.
Hizb ut Tahrir was singled out by Home Secretary Tony Burke and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess before Labour’s new hate speech laws were passed on Tuesday evening, which will give Mr Burke the power to designate so-called hate groups.
Under the reforms, it would become a criminal offense to be a member of a hate group, recruit members, receive funds or direct its activities.
The neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Network (NSN) announced last week that it would disband after it was also targeted.
On Wednesday morning, Hizb ut Tahrir’s Australian website, which had previously published the organization’s press releases and information materials, was offline.
“Website unavailable” message was stated when trying to access the site.
Attempts to access the website via VPN also failed.
Hizb ut Tahrir has been stirring up controversy for years.
Mr Burgess told a Senate inquiry into new hate speech laws that the group knew how to consciously work within the boundaries of hate speech and incitement legislation.
The group also targeted Mr Burgess in a letter in January, accusing the ASIO boss of “dismantling any pretense of impartiality” during a lecture he gave outside the Lowy Institute in 2025 and likening Hizb ut Tahrir’s “aggressive rhetoric and insidious strategy” to the NSN.
Hizb ut Tahrir accused Burgess of “Islamophobic tropes portraying Muslims as the fifth column in this country” and denied trying to establish a caliphate in Australia by force.
Hizb ut Tahrir is banned in the UK, Germany, China, Indonesia and many Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.
Adherents follow a strict, pan-Islamist form of the Muslim faith and have in the past called for the establishment of a unified Islamic caliphate.
Under the reforms, the AFP Minister, currently Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, must be satisfied that a group is “involved in, prepared, planned or assisted a racially, nationally or ethnically motivated hate crime” or “advocates racially, nationally or ethnically motivated hate crimes” for a group to be designated as a hate group.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the appointment secured changes that would mean ASIO would have to be supported and the opposition leader briefed.
