Home affairs minister’s 2024 decision to reject visa application for planned speaking tour on character grounds upheld

Australia’s high court has unanimously backed the government’s 2024 decision to refuse the rightwing provocateur Candace Owens a visa to enter the country.

The full bench of the court ruled on Wednesday that the minister’s denial did not infringe an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

Last October the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, refused Owens’ visa application before a planned national speaking tour, arguing that she had the “capacity to incite discord”.

Burke said at the time the US conservative influencer and podcast host, who has advanced conspiracy theories and antisemitic rhetoric – including allegedly minimising Nazi medical experiments in concentration camps – did not pass the “character test” to receive a visa under the Migration Act.