MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s highest court on Wednesday rejected U.S. conservative commentator Candace Owens ’ bid to overturn an Australian government decision barring her from visiting the country.
Three High Court judges unanimously rejected Owens’ challenge to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s decision in 2024 to refuse her a visa on character grounds.
Owens had planned to begin a speaking tour in Australia last November and also visit neighboring New Zealand.
Burke used his powers under the Migration Act last October to refuse her a visa because she failed the so-called “character test,” court documents said.
Burke found there was a risk Owens would “incite discord in the Australian community” and that refusing her a visa was in the national interest. As a political commentator, author and activist, Owens was “known for her controversial and conspiratorial views.”
She had made “extremist and inflammatory comments toward Muslim, Black, Jewish and LGBTQIA+ communities which generate controversy and hatred,” Burke said in court documents.
Owens’ lawyers had argued the Migrant Act was unconstitutional because it infringed upon Australia's implied freedom of political communications.
Australia doesn't have an equivalent of the U.S. First Amendment that states a right to free speech. But because Australia is a democracy, the High Court has decided that the constitution implies free speech limited to governmental and political matters.
Owens’ lawyers had argued that if the Migration Act was constitutional, then Burke had misconstrued his powers under that law in refusing her a visa.
The judges rejected both arguments and ordered Owens to pay the government’s court costs.
Burke described the ruling as a “win for social cohesion.”
"Inciting discord might be the way some people make money, but it’s not welcome in Australia,” Burke said in statement.
Owens’ spokesman told The Associated Press in an email on Thursday Owens would comment on the court decision on social media later this week.
Burke had told the court that while Owens already had an ability to incite discord through her 18 million followers across social media platforms, her presence in Australia would amplify that potential.
He noted that when Australia’s terrorism threat level was elevated from “possible” to “probable” last year, the national domestic spy agency reported an “increase in extremism.”
Australia has long used a wide discretion under the character test to refuse foreigners temporary visas.
Burke stripped Ye, the U.S. rapper formerly known as Kanye West, of an Australian visa after he released his single “Heil Hitler” in May this year. Ye had been traveling for years to Australia, where his wife of three years, Bianca Censori, was born.
Burke's decision to ban Owens prompted neighboring New Zealand to refuse her a visa in November on the grounds that she had been rejected by Australia. But a New Zealand immigration official overturned that refusal in December, citing "the importance of free speech.”
Owens’ spokesman said on Thursday she would not tour New Zealand.
FILE - U.S. conservative commentator Candace Owens speaks at the Convention of the Right, in Paris, on Sept. 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, FILE)
