Far-right American commentator Candace Owens has taken legal action against the Australian government following the rejection of her visa last month.
Ms Owens was due to tour the country for a series of shows in November, but Immigration Minister Tony Burke blocked her visit on character grounds, arguing her controversial views could potentially spark “disunity” in society.
“From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about Mengele to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the ability to stoke disagreement in virtually every direction,” Burke said in announcing his decision to fire her visa application to be reversed.
“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is elsewhere.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Ms. Owens said the challenge would argue that Secretary Burke’s decision was made with “clear bias and improper motivations.”
“According to Ms. Owens’ legal representatives, Mr. Burke demonstrated bias against her case from the outset and made public comments that cast doubt on his impartiality well before a decision was made,” the spokesperson said.
“Mr. Burke also disclosed private details of Ms. Owens’ job application to the media, further calling into question his neutrality.”
The spokesperson said the grounds for Burke’s refusal were “legally unreasonable and unjustifiable.”
Far-right American commentator Candace Owens has taken legal action against the Australian government following the rejection of her visa last month
“The minister’s behavior shows that this decision was intended to enhance his public image rather than maintain a fair trial,” the spokesperson said.
‘Mr Burke has been asked to resign from further involvement in this matter. An impartial official should reconsider her application.”
The legal challenge follows a joint response from Ms Owens on her social media channels, in which she slammed the government for what she called a “petty act of vandalism”.
“I also want to make it clear to you that I found out at the same time that the press found out, so his office chose to leak this,” she said.
“This is supposed to be a private application process, so unless I spoke up about this, no one should have known about this.”
She suggested her application was blocked because of her reporting on attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
“I wanted to make sure everyone knows that even though I have been fired, demonized and spoken poorly of, I have not changed my position,” she said.
“That’s what this really is: a small act of vandalism. No one is worried about me coming to Australia because they’re angry that they put this story out about me and my listeners haven’t bought it.”
Owens acknowledged her visa denial, which her team vowed to fight through an appeal to the Federal Court, and said she was disappointed she wouldn’t be able to “hug a koala” and “fight a kangaroo.”
‘I wanted to hug a koala, I’m not going to lie, I did. “I think koalas are really cute,” she said.
‘Maybe I wanted to fight a kangaroo too. I see a lot of these videos, they’re like they’re hitting people, and I thought, maybe that would be good content, but if I have to put that up, I’ll put that up.”
Ms Owens was due to tour the country for a series of shows in November, but Immigration Minister Tony Burke blocked her visit on character grounds
An announcement on her Ticketek page states that she and her event organizer Rocksman are “optimistic of a favorable outcome.”
They have also promised that existing ticket holders, some who paid $1,500 for VIP tickets, will be refunded.
“If the appeal is denied and cancellation becomes necessary, we will immediately notify all ticket holders and automatically begin processing refunds on behalf of the organizer,” the announcement said.
A spokeswoman for Owens said “tens of thousands of tickets” had been sold for the live shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.
The influencer, who split from mainstream American conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and his news channel The Daily Wire in March this year, has 5.8 million followers on Twitter and around 5 million on Instagram.
Peter Wertheim, co-director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, called on Mr Burke to revoke Ms Owens’ visa, arguing she failed the character test under the Migration Act.
“At a time of unprecedented pressure on the cohesion of Australian society, largely the result of ignorant and malicious comments on social media, the last thing we need to import into our country is another so-called celebrity making racist and bigoted comments about Jews and other vulnerable groups,” he said.
Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan also supported blocking Owens from Australia.
“There is no place in Australia for people who spread hate speech and undermine social cohesion,” he said.