Home affairs minister cancels visa of British national charged with displaying Nazi symbols
Police executed a search warrant at the 43-year-old man's home north of Brisbane in November. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)
In short:
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has cancelled the visa of a British national charged with three counts of displaying Nazi symbols.
Police said they seized several weapons from the man's Caboolture home, including swords with swastikas on them.
In the wake of the Bondi terror attack, Mr Burke has vowed to strengthen his ministerial powers to deport visa holders who espouse hate.
Tony Burke has cancelled the visa of a British national charged with displaying Nazi symbols.
The home affairs minister confirmed plans first reported in Nine newspapers to deport the man, a 43-year-old who was arrested in Queensland earlier this month.
"Almost everyone on a visa is a good guest and welcome guest in our country. But if someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave," Mr Burke told the ABC's News Breakfast.
Tony Burke says he has no tolerance for visitors who spread hate. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
In a statement released at the time of the man's arrest, federal police alleged he used two separate accounts on social media site X to post content that breached federal laws.
The allegations include displaying the Nazi hakenkreuz and displaying "a pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community, and to advocate for violence towards this community".
Police said they seized several weapons from the Caboolture home where the man was arrested, including swords with swastikas on them.
The AFP seized a number of items and weapons during a search of the man's Caboolture property. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)
The man was charged with three counts of displaying prohibited Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
Burke cracks down on hate speech
The prohibition of hate symbols is one of a handful of recent changes the federal government has made to hate laws.
Mr Burke has announced a series of new changes in the wake of last week's Bondi terror attack, which federal police have alleged was motivated by Islamic State ideology.
He has also vowed to strengthen his ministerial powers to deport visa holders who espouse hate or are associated with hateful groups.
South African national Matthew Gruter had his visa revoked in November after he was photographed at a neo-Nazi rally. (Supplied)
The minister already has some powers to cancel visas or refuse visa applications on character grounds.
Last month, Mr Burke deported a South African national who attended a neo-Nazi rally in Sydney.
The minister said his plans to expand the powers would broaden his scope "to make cancellations of exactly this nature".
"At the moment, the test that my department has to work through is not simply whether someone has engaged in hate speech and vilification of people," he told the ABC.
"We also have to establish … the impact on that community and to what extent will that incite discord across Australia.
"My view is that the incitement of hate should be enough."
Mr Burke said in a Nine interview that the British national had been "dedicating himself in different ways to anti-Jewish hatred".
The man's arrest was carried out by the AFP's National Security Investigations teams, which was established in September to target those "causing high levels of harm to Australia's social cohesion, including the targeting of the Jewish community".