Far-right US influencer Candace Owens loses legal fight to enter Australia
SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. far-right Candace Owens lost her bid to enter Australia after the country’s highest court on Wednesday backed the government’s decision to deny her a visa over concerns she could “stir up discord” in society.
Owens, who has built a large following online for his controversial conservative views, has applied for a visa to embark on a speaking tour in November 2024.
His application was rejected in October 2024 by Home Secretary Tony Burke due to his record of belittling the Holocaust and making Islamophobic comments. Burke has the authority to refuse entry to non-citizens based on character requirements under the Immigration Act.
Owens appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that this authority burdened the implied right of freedom of political communication. Unlike the US, Australia has no clear constitutional right to free speech.
The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Burke on Wednesday and ordered Owens to pay the government’s legal costs.
The court said the Immigration Act provisions imposed a burden on political communications but served a legitimate and justifiable purpose in protecting the Australian community from visitors who “incite or encourage disagreement or disagreement on political matters”.
“Implied liberty is not a ‘personal right,’ nor is it unlimited and absolute,” Supreme Court Justices Stephen Gageler, Michelle Gordon and Robert Beech-Jones wrote in a joint decision.
Burke said the decision was “a victory for social harmony.”
“Instigating conflict may be the way some people make money, but that is frowned upon in Australia. Australia’s national interests are best served when Candace Owens is elsewhere,” he said in a statement.
The judges said Burke denied Owens’ visa after reviewing Owens’ views and comments on areas such as “Holocaust denial, Islamophobia,” anti-racism, Black Lives Matter and anti-Semitism, women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights, COVID-19 and anti-vaccination.
Burke found his views to be “extremist and inflammatory comments that create controversy and hatred towards the Muslim, Black, Jewish and LGBTQIA+ communities” and concluded that this meant he failed the “character test” required for the visa due to the risk of “inciting discord” in society.
It also concluded that allowing him to enter the country was against the national interest.
“Ms. Owens Farmer’s allegations must be rejected emphatically,” Supreme Court Justice James Edelman said in a separate ruling.
Owens’ attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
In July, Australia revoked the visa of US rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over concerns he promoted Nazi ideologies in his song “Heil Hitler”, released in May.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
