Candace Owens has been denied entry to Australia after the High Court upheld a government visa refusal over concerns her public remarks could foment social discord.
Far-right US influencer Candace Owens has lost a legal challenge to gain entry into Australia after the country’s High Court upheld a government refusal of her visitor visa. The court ruled unanimously that the government’s decision to deny her entry in 2024 “was not invalid” and ordered her to pay legal costs.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had rejected Owens’s visa application, citing concerns that her public comments—“downplaying the impact of the Holocaust … claims that Muslims started slavery” and other Islamophobic remarks—gave her “the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction.” The court affirmed that Owens had failed the “character test” under Australia’s Migration Act, noting the risk that allowing her entry could “incite discord in the Australian community.”
Owens argued the refusal infringed upon freedom of political communication, but the justices responded that in Australia “the implied freedom is not a ‘personal right’, is not unlimited and is not absolute.” Her appeal was therefore rejected.