SYDNEY, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Australia cancelled the visa of a British national after he was charged with displaying a banned Nazi symbol, the immigration minister said on Wednesday, as the country cracks down on antisemitism in the wake of a mass shooting at Bondi Beach.
The government revoked the visa of a 43-year-old man who was charged on December 8 with displaying a Nazi symbol and advocating for violence against the Jewish community on social media platform X, according to Australian Federal Police.
“If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest,” Home Affairs Minister Bourke told the Australian Broadcasting Corp, referring to the British citizen.
“If someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave,” he said.
Burke and the federal police did not name the British man but the federal police said he displayed the Nazi Hakenkreuz – a type of swastika – and espoused “pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community” from two X accounts from October to November.
After having his visa revoked, the man who was living in the state of Queensland was taken into immigration detention and would be deported unless he voluntarily left first, media reports said.
On December 14, a father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and sparking calls for the Australian government to do more to stop antisemitism.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead in the attack but his son Naveed Akram is charged with murder and terrorism, with police saying he was recorded saying he was motivated by Islamic text the Koran.
As part of the government’s response to the Bondi Beach shooting and calls for heightened action against antisemitism, Burke said he plans to lower the legal thresholds for a person’s antisemitic actions to be illegal. He has previously said that antisemitic groups intentionally curb their language to avoid criminal charges while violating Australian community standards.
He also said that for a visa cancellation the authorities needed to prove a person’s actions had a harmful impact on the community, but “incitement of hate should be enough”.
“We should be able to cancel visas on that basis alone,” Bourke told the ABC. “There will…be legislation to increase my powers to make cancellations of exactly this nature.”
(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Michael Perry)
Comments