The Australian government has officially designated Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir as a “prohibited hate group”, with the ban set to come into effect on Friday.
Spy agency ASIO last month recommended the ban to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, the first stage in outlawing a group under controversial new federal laws rushed through parliament by the major parties in mid-January in response to the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack.
Governor-General Sam Mostyn signed off on the ban on Thursday, The Daily Telegraph reported, and from Friday anyone who knowingly directs, continues to be a member or joins, supports, recruits for, provides training for, or funds Hizb ut-Tahrir faces jails terms of between seven and 15 years.
The “hate groups” legislation was written specifically to allow the government to ban the Islamist group and the National Socialist Network, but the latter group disbanded before the laws were passed.
Mr Burke announced the ASIO advice in an ABC interview on February 22 where he said he had been fighting Hizb ut-Tahrir ever since being elected to parliament.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed that ASIO advised Hizb ut-Tahrir to be registered as a prohibited organisation in Australia.
The Nationalist Socialist Network has not been recommended for listing or formally designated and is not currently subject to a ban. pic.twitter.com/9D4zBnPVPp
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) February 21, 2026
“So there were two groups that had largely been spoken about before [the new laws were passed]. There were the neo-Nazis and Hizb ut-Tahrir. The neo-Nazis disbanded before the legislation went through,” he told Insiders host David Speers.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is an organization I’ve been fighting since my first term in parliament, back in the days when the Liberal government was rolling out the red carpet for them at the embassy and giving them speaking tour visas in in Australia.
“ASIO have now provided the advice that that organisation meets the threshold that AIO requires for them to be able to be banned. So the next stage is the Department now prepares brief for a minister. That brief is the second threshold that has to be determined and then after that, presuming that that’s determined, then the leader of the Opposition is advised and the Attorney-General has to sign off on it.
“But the first stage on the process of of a prohibited group listing happening for Hizb ut-Tahrir is now complete, the ASIO advice is in. And this is the first time we’ve been able to ban potentially a group which falls short of a terrorist listing.
“It says you don’t have to be specifically calling for violence, but you do have to be acting in a way that increases the risk of communal violence or politically motivated violence.”
Coalition Home Affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam said he was “pleased” with the ASIO advice, calling Hizb ut-Tahrir a “hideous and insidious organisation” and saying “this is what we wanted to see with the laws”.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is designated as a terrorist organisation in the UK, Germany and India, took down its website after the legislation was passed but said when the new laws were announced that it had no intention of disbanding, and denied promoting violence.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir is based on an Islamic political worldview. Unless the government is proposing to ban Islamic ideas, it cannot ban the ideas of Hizb ut-Tahrir,” Zaid Hamdan El Madi, a lawyer acting on behalf of the organisation said at the time.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir has never advocated hate or violence based on racial identity, its views are political in nature.”
Legal experts have warned the “hate groups” laws are open to abuse and could be used to ban political opposition, including One Nation, resulting in party leader Pauline Hanson vowing to repeal them.
Former NSN and White Australia leader Thomas Sewell said after the group’s disbandment that he would challenge the laws in the High Court as an individual, and has so far raised more than $150,000 from supporters for the legal fight.
Header image: Left, a speaker at a Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in Sydney last year (YouTube). Right, a sign at the conference (Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia).
