Burke wants cops to report protesters on visas after Hezbollah flags flown on Australian streets

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he has ‘very strong views against hate symbols’ and warned pro-Hezbollah protesters on visas that ‘higher standards’ were expected as guests in Australia.

Protesters at the Sydney Opera House on October 9 last year, top left, and in Melbourne and Sydney on Sunday.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says he could not “pre-judge” whether carrying a Hezbollah flag constituted grounds for a visa cancellation but said he held “very strong views against hate speech and hate symbols”.

He said the government did not know the visa status of people who waved Hezbollah flags and held portraits of slain terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah at protests in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday.

“So we’ve sent the message, and we’ve done this before, to the different police forces, in this case NSW and Victoria, and just said that if anybody who they’re concerned about, if they can check their visa status as well, and if someone is on a visa, then that’ll come to us,” Mr Burke told ABC RN.

“We do have a higher standard in Australia if you’re on a visa as to what’s expected. If you’re on a visa in anyone’s country, you’re there as a guest. And the normal principles that might be there are where people will have arguments about freedom of speech when you’re a guest in someone’s country, you’re there as a guest, and inciting discord is a reason for me to refuse visas and a reason for me to cancel visas.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke: Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

He said there were laws that “speak to” activities such as carrying a Hezbollah flag.

“There are laws that are new and laws that have to be tested before the courts,” he said.

“My priority is for people to feel safe in Australia. My priority is for people to be able to live peacefully in Australia. And the lowering of the temperature is important, and those laws should be part of lowering the temperature.”

Mr Burke lashed Peter Dutton’s calls to recall parliament to criminalise the kinds of behaviour seen at the protest if there were no such provisions.

“With Peter Dutton, it is always about the Middle East and never about middle Australia,” Mr Burke said.

“These are laws that Peter Dutton supported when they were passed a year ago. The reason Peter Dutton wants to recall the parliament is – there are two reasons why he wants to. First, any chance he gets to not talk about cost of living, he wants to take it.

“Secondly, with Peter Dutton, it remains the case that no matter how many times our security agencies say we need to lower the temperature in Australia, he wants to raise the temperature every single time.

“He doesn’t want to recall parliament because he wants to change laws that he supported a year ago. He wants to recall parliament because he wants to throw more kerosene on the fire and get people angrier with each other and say more outrageous things in the parliament.”

Mr Burke also said he doesn’t “understand the reason” for why memorial services were held for Nasrallah at several mosques in Sydney on Monday evening.

“It’s not that I can offer a statistic, but I’ll tell you the number of civilians killed is just intolerable, and that’s why the government’s calls for a ceasefire are so important.”

Earlier, Anthony Albanese branded the waving of Hezbollah flags on Australian streets as “worrying signs”, without mentioning the ­terror group by name, as federal police scramble to enforce laws banning terrorist symbols following rallies where protesters brandished the flags and portraits of the group’s slain leader.

Nearly a year after the Hezbollah flag was flown at last year’s ­infamous Sydney Opera House protest, the Australian Federal Police said at least six people at Sunday’s protests could face ­criminal charges.

It was also revealed police did not have the power to confiscate terrorist symbols carried at public marches.

The move to investigate ­protesters referred by Victoria Police came hours after the AFP cautioned “the mere public display” of hate symbols did not constitute an offence.

The Prime Minister said: “We’ve seen worrying signs over the weekend. We do not want people to bring radical ideologies and conflict here. Our multiculturalism and social cohesion cannot be taken for granted.”

His comments, which did not specifically reference Hezbollah, came as Peter Dutton blasted the government for the AFP’s failure to ­prosecute anyone for displaying terrorist symbols since the law was introduced in January.

“The laws do provide for an ­offence in that regard, and the law should be enforced,” the Opposition Leader said.

He declared it was an “outrage” that terrorist leaders were being glorified in Australian cities.

The latest unrest in Australia came as Israeli forces carried out targeted raids into southern Lebanon ahead of an imminent ground invasion.

On Monday evening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at a government meeting his nation was “in a war for our very existence”.

“We will unite, go hand-in-hand and defeat our enemies,” he said on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday.

“We face major challenges. We will face them together and we will do the work that the people of Israel, and the generations of the people of Israel, expect that we will do.

He commended the commanders and soldiers of the IDF and security services, praising them for “striking our enemies” and “enabling our people to stand tall with pride”.

In the aftermath of the ­anti-Israel rallies, the Albanese government on Monday announced its new special envoy to combat Islamophobia.

Mr Burke, who is under pressure from the Muslim Vote pressure group in his southwest Sydney seat, said British American academic Aftab Malik would fill the role. The move came months after lawyer Jillian Segal was announced as the government’s anti-Semitism envoy.

Amid a wave of condemnation over the conduct of anti-Israel protesters in Australia, the AFP vowed to scour television footage from weekend rallies for evidence of criminal conduct, and urged members of the public to report those who incited violence or displayed terrorist symbols to the ­national security hotline.

The AFP crackdown came as fresh footage showed a man at the Melbourne rally on Sunday ­chanting “I am at your service, Hezbollah” on a speakerphone as others chanted “all Zionists are terrorists”.

NSW police were also monitoring Sydney mosques that held memorial services for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday night.

The Australian can reveal that a Jewish man in Sydney has reported protesters to police after alleging he was subjected to anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs by men with Hezbollah paraphernalia, and that one protester threw his phone on nearby tramtracks.

Adam Lippmann, 38, said that when he approached nearby police and said “I’ve got photos, I’ve got audio, I’ve just been assaulted”, they told him they couldn’t help because “we’re here for the protest”. When he questioned them, they said “We’re here to ensure it’s a peaceful protest”.

Mr Lippmann said: “I said to him: I’m a product of that ­failing.”

Just two people have been charged under the hate-­symbols laws introduced in January. Both involved Nazi symbols, rather than those of terrorist ­organisations such as Hamas or Hezbollah.

The AFP said the agency would investigate at least six reports of crime referred by Victoria Police following Sunday’s rally in Melbourne. Protesters at the event waved the terrorist group’s flag and carried framed pictures of its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last week in Israeli air strikes.

Some were filmed chanting “Labayka ya Nasrallah” in Arabic, which translates to ‘At your service, Nasrallah’ or ‘here I am, Nasrallah’. Another chant declared “No more USA, no more Israel, no more Saudi Arabia”.

An AFP spokeswoman said: “The AFP has no tolerance for individuals who break the law and will use its extensive capability and networks to take action.” She said the law did not allow police to remove prohibited symbols from public display, and could only fine those who refused to comply with directions to do so. Investigators would assess whether the protesters’ actions reached the threshold for charges under the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Act, 2023, the spokeswoman said.

Under the law, a reasonable person would have to see an ­accused’s conduct as inciting hatred against a person or likely to offend or intimidate a person of a particular race or religion. Those found guilty of displaying terrorist symbols face jail terms of up to 12 months under the law.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said “the boneheaded policy” of accommodating those who flouted the law needed to stop. “Enough is enough. What is the point of having tough-sounding laws if those who are charged with enforcing them continually fail to do their duty?” he said.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network said the focus on Hezbollah flags was a “political distraction” obscuring “Israel’s expansion of violence across the region”.