Government lists Hizb ut-Tahrir as banned hate group

The Albanese government has listed Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group under the Criminal Code, making it the first organisation proscribed under the new hate group listing framework.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced on Friday it was now a criminal offence to be a member of, recruit for, provide training or funds to, or provide material support to Hizb ut-Tahrir.

“For a long time, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been able to spread hate and create a pathway for others to engage in violence,” Burke said.

“The Australian Government’s new hate group listing framework has been designed to stop organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir from spreading hate and sowing the seeds of division in the community, that risks not only our social cohesion but the safety of Australians.”

Jewish communal organisations have long called for the group to be proscribed.

The prohibited hate group listing framework is part of the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026, which strengthened hate crime laws following the Bondi Beach terror attack.

“The banning of hate organisations, which do not otherwise meet the technical requirements of a terrorism listing, is something which the ECAJ has pushed for and achieved in the recent legislative changes,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ)  president Daniel Aghion said.

“It is an important piece in the armour to protect our community and all Australians from organisations that spread hatred against Jews. The banning of Hizb ur-Tahrir brings us into line with countries like the UK.”

Other countries that have banned Hizb ut-Tahrir include Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess warned in November last year that Hizb ut-Tahrir deliberately fuels antisemitism to dangerous levels, using tactics “very similar” to those of the National Socialist Network.

“The organisation’s condemnation of Israel and Jews attracts media attention and aids recruitment, but it deliberately stops short of promoting onshore acts of politically motivated violence,” Burgess said at the time.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir wants to test and stretch the boundaries of legality without breaking them.”

In January, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, creating a framework enabling the home affairs minister to list organisations as “prohibited hate groups”.

At the time, Burke said organisations had “played a game for a long time in keeping themselves just below the legal threshold”.

“The two groups [Burgess] called out specifically were the Nazis, the National Socialist Network, and Hizb ut-Tahrir,” Burke said in January.

“Two groups which through their spreading of hate, have a direct impact on increased risk on our national security environment, but have kept themselves just below the law. This bill will lower that threshold.”

The National Socialist Network disbanded in January.

In June 2024, a Nine newspapers investigation detailed Hizb ut-Tahrir’s infiltration of pro-Gaza demonstrations and its role in the University of Sydney encampment.

The investigation found Hizb ut-Tahrir had attached itself to pro-Palestinian organisations to pursue the violent replacement of Israel with an Islamic caliphate, and was active in street violence near a Caulfield synagogue on November 10, 2023, forcing it to be evacuated.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said at the time the investigation “must be a wake-up call”.

ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim described Hizb ut-Tahrir’s rhetoric as “antisemitic, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic and anti-Western”.

In 2021, then Wentworth MP Dave Sharma called on the Morrison government to prosecute Hizb ut-Tahrir after it posted a video of a rally with chants of “Destroy the Jews!” and “Oh Allah, give us the necks of those evildoers.”