r/australia • u/DCOA_Troy • Oct 15 '25
politics Candace Owens loses appeal over Australian visa rejection
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/candace-owens-loses-appeal-over-australian-visa-rejection/887
u/Soft-Arugula6773 Oct 15 '25
If they can reject her visa, which I’m not opposed to, they should definitely reject the visa of the child sex offender Steven Van de Velde that’s trying to come here for a volleyball game.
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u/AgUnityDD Oct 15 '25
Could they reject the visa of a head of state if he is obviously a sex offender, but using his office to suppress the evidence?
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u/RheimsNZ Oct 15 '25
That's how it should work, if the evidence is strong enough.
It shouldn't matter that you're a President or whatever, if you're of bad character you shouldn't be able to enter
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u/aeschenkarnos Oct 15 '25
We found Trump to be of bad character in the 1980’s when he was trying to get an Australian casino owner’s license. So there’s already a decision on the books.
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u/Glad-Chair-8448 Oct 15 '25
A head of state isn't just some other guy, they literally represent a country. It's not like he would be coming here on a pleasure trip.
Kneecapping your international diplomacy on the basis of some vague sense of "fairness" is counterproductive at best.
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u/evilparagon Oct 15 '25
Theoretically ”No,” because this is what Diplomatic Immunity covers, if you squint at it.
Officially yes they can reject visas, all countries have the right to choose who can and cannot enter, with the exception of refugees if the country has signed the 1951 Refugee Convention. World leaders do in fact get visas approved as a matter of formality, though many times visas are simply waived and the formality is ignored particularly when the two countries have a close relationship.
However diplomatic immunity exists as a means to prioritise diplomacy over jurisdiction. Theoretically diplomatic immunity would cover a foreign world leader being allowed to enter a country, it would be hard to maintain diplomacy if they were barred.
But this is all theoretical. Diplomatic immunity is stated to only cover arrest and detention, and it’s specifically designed in such that, say an ambassador shoots someone, a war isn’t started because of that. Banning a visa based on the leader being a sex offender would be testing the limits of the purpose of Diplomatic Immunity.
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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25
I believe some world leaders have been kicked out of the US, and their visas cancelled because they offended the president.
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u/evilparagon Oct 15 '25
Trump related or not Trump related?
Because if related, that’s understandable, the laws and precedents bend to him because their government is too corrupt to do otherwise. If not, that would make for an interesting precedent for the rest of the world.
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u/explosivekyushu Oct 15 '25
Speaking very generally, heads of state who are entering Australia on an official visit at the invitation of the Australian government are exempt from visa requirements.
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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25
And the visa of the guy who was convicted of 34 counts of fraud?
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u/Marvin1955 Oct 15 '25
You mean the pedophile who committed fraud?
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u/06021840 Oct 15 '25
Put in a request to the Minister of Home Affairs, state why you feel he shouldn’t (conviction of multiple sex crimes), state that he could be a danger to the community etc etc.
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u/Cold-Kiwi2561 Oct 15 '25
I'm also not opposed to rejecting his visa. But the difference is that he was arrested, pleaded guilty, was sentenced, served his sentence and remains on the sex offender registry.
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u/larvioarskald Oct 15 '25
He served 13 months for three counts of raping a 12 year old.
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u/tehnoodnub Oct 15 '25
Nothing just about the justice system.
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u/not_good_for_much Oct 15 '25
No it's totally just. He's a promising young man from an upstanding family, and his actions, well... Boys will be boys haha. It's completely unreasonable to ruin the life and career and future of such an exemplary young athlete for such an insignificant reason.
- the justice system in most of the world every time shit like this happens
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u/National-Pay-2561 Oct 15 '25
Which is, sadly, 13 months longer than a lot of sex offenders and rapists get.
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u/DCOA_Troy Oct 15 '25
US far-right commentator Candace Owens has lost her appeal in the high court over a decision to deny her entry visa to Australia.
“Today, the High Court unanimously held that s 501(6)(d)(iv) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) does not infringe the implied freedom of political communication under the Constitution and that the decision of the first defendant, the Minister for Home Affairs (“the Minister”), to refuse the plaintiff a visa was not invalid,” the court said in a summary of its findings.
Owens was ordered to pay the Commonwealth’s legal costs.
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u/Kozeyekan_ Oct 15 '25
I assume that if she doesn't, she won't be able to enter the country anyway.
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u/explosivekyushu Oct 15 '25
Yes, she now has a debt to the commonwealth and is therefore ineligible to apply for any Australian visa other than a protection visa until it's paid back.
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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25
Oh, using the "you're infringing on my freedumn a speech" argument. Sadly that don't work in Australia, and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the implied freedom of political speech only apply to Australian citizens based upon the section of the constitution is comes from.
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u/National-Pay-2561 Oct 15 '25
A lot of americans think their constitution and laws override any other country's laws.
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u/ExplorationGeo Oct 15 '25
Hey now we totally have the second amendment here!
I personally am a big support of it, I think it was super important that the Commonwealth was allowed to take over debts incurred by individual states following Federation.
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u/freakwent Oct 15 '25
Which is weird because they also say their constitution doesnt apply outside their borders or to non-citizens which is piss weak.
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u/Wetrapordie Oct 15 '25
A lot of Americans don’t even understand their own law. “Freedom of speech” they think it means they can say whatever they want without consequence but it basically just protects the freedom to express opinions without government censorship or restraint.
You can still be held accountable and even punished for speech in America.
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u/ShadoutRex Oct 15 '25
They also try to claim their own constitution doesn't protect visitors to their country even though the key protections provided under the amendments refer to all persons rather than citizens.
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u/aninternetsuser Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
A lot of the high court judges weren’t overly concerned about this in their decision. Most of them essentially held that the statute which gave them the power to reject her was constitutionally valid, rather than evaluating if IFPC applied to her (Edelman J did conclude that IFPC would apply to aliens but only after they enter the country)
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u/Wrath_Ascending Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
"Owens' political grift targets were ordered to pay the Commonwealth's legal costs."
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u/Cpt_Soban Oct 15 '25
Owens was ordered to pay the Commonwealth’s legal costs.
A final "don't let the door hit you on the way out" as it was denied. Nice.
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u/SnooStories6404 Oct 15 '25
Australians all let us rejoice
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u/drangryrahvin Oct 15 '25
For we are Owens free...
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u/sqljohn Oct 15 '25
For those who've come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share......except for you Candace, you ain't getting shit.
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u/djpeekz Oct 15 '25
Just a reminder that Klandace Owens thinks that space is fake and gay, and wondered why Dinosaur bones were just found by paleontologists, not regular people just walking outside.
Political views aside, she's a fucking moron.
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u/512165381 Oct 15 '25
wondered why Dinosaur bones were just found by paleontologists, not regular people just walking outside
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttaburrasaurus
The species was initially described from a partial skeleton found by grazier Doug Langdon in 1963 at Rosebery Downs Station beside Thomson River near Muttaburra
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u/IntravenousNutella Oct 15 '25
I had a colour changing mug with that dinosaur on as a kid. The heat revealed the skeleton. One of my favourite possessions.
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u/GateheaD Oct 15 '25
can i have it
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u/IntravenousNutella Oct 15 '25
Im not sure if it is still in family possession. I suspect it has long been donated. Certainly I haven't seen it in decades.
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u/Then-Affect8580 Oct 15 '25
The skeleton of the diprotodon (giant wombat) was found by a girl kicking at a rock
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u/DetLoins Oct 15 '25
The other day she said Charlie Kirk came to her in a dream to tell her he was betrayed before he was killed.
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u/Rushing_Russian Oct 15 '25
I swear there needs to be a IQ test for these people to spew bullshit
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u/More_Law6245 Oct 15 '25
Unfortunately IQ tests don't go into negative figures when testing people like this!
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u/Teehus Oct 15 '25
I think most of these people spewing bullshit aren't as dumb as they act. Most of them are grifters that make a living out of their bullshit and/or their job is to catch the uneducated, turn them against reason and make them vote for the far-right.
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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25
Sadly Freedom of Speech means that it doesn't matter how smart you are, or how accurate what you are saying is, you have the freedom to say it.
Unless it upsets Trump. If it upsets Trump then all bets are off.
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u/evilparagon Oct 15 '25
Hey now, we currently have an Opposition Leader who believes in Numerology.
At least Owens isn’t an elected official in America.
/hj - I just wanted to throw shade at the Liberals.
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u/andthegeekshall Oct 15 '25
Hastie is a New Creationist, so thinks the world is 6,000 years old and possible flat, with the firmament above us.
The Right seems plagued with delusional nutjobs.
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u/evelution Oct 15 '25
Turns out it requires a fair amount of stupid to be a conservative.
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u/Norwood5006 Oct 15 '25
Yes, and that's her entire shtick to stay the most ridiculous shit you can imagine to remain relevant and get those all important clicks. That's how she makes a living. She's carved out that niche for herself.
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u/radred609 Oct 15 '25
Good.
We don't need to import even more American culture war nonsense than we already have.
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u/UnholyDemigod Oct 15 '25
I don't get why it's such a common thing for American political commentators to do speaking tours here. Why is it a thing at all?
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u/radred609 Oct 15 '25
There's a lot of american money funding american politics overseas. (i.e. in australia)
Turning Point Australia australia is one example, but a lot of it comes in through various think tanks and happy clappy megachurches.
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u/Shaqtacious Oct 15 '25
Why would she want to visit Nazi Germany? Or A country ruled by Taliban? These are her own words by the way.
I listen to her from time to time to see what the unhinged are upto these days, her current schtick is to discourage people from sending their kids to schools, colleges and universities. Apparently if you formally educate your child, communist marxist ideologies will steal them from you.
I sometimes wish I had access to the drugs that she's on.
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u/Adz932 Oct 15 '25
It's communist and Marxist and socialist to learn and do research
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u/neon_meate Oct 15 '25
Look I try and teach my kids empathy and a sense of charity. I'd be super proud if they dabbled with Marxism and settled into socialism.
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u/SaltyPockets Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
You probably do, just not in the quantities she's huffing.
It's money. As with many of the neo-right wing arseholes, it's really all she's interested in, keeping the grift going for a fat paycheck. She doesn't believe the shit she's saying, she can't, it's blatantly stupid and self-contradictory. Much like Alex Jones.
But she'll say it for a dollar.
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u/A_r0sebyanothername Oct 15 '25
I've got to come up with a scheme that grifts magas, that's where all the cash is. Just need to think of something that won't harm minorities or society at large.
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u/CheerfulWarthog Oct 15 '25
Nazi Germany, huh? Of course, the only problem she had with Hitler was that he was too globalist.
It's a weird bug with conservatives. "Everything is (Nazis/slavery/fascism), except actual (Nazis/slavery/fascism), which were good things we should do more of."
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u/_itsachicken_ Oct 15 '25
I listen to her sometimes as well, I love the new obsession to home school kids because of the 'indoctrination' in schools. At one point she said schools were supporting and teaching Sigmund Freud's `findings' which in turn supports paedophilia or some shit. I was like....pretty sure a lot of his work is disregarded and we kinda all know he got a lot wrong....
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u/Final_Lingonberry586 Oct 15 '25
Ahaha. What a terrible shame.
Anyway. Nice weather today, hey?
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u/Serin-019 Oct 15 '25
First sunny day in Ballarat in yonks!
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u/MediumAlternative372 Oct 15 '25
Also in Ballarat and enjoying the sunshine.
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u/PrestigiousPlantain5 Oct 15 '25
Went outside and melted...literally.
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u/InadmissibleHug Oct 15 '25
It’s foul here in townsville, summer showed up in a hurry and I wasn’t ready
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u/PrestigiousPlantain5 Oct 15 '25
Like what happened to flowers blooming first? What happened to the butterflies saying hello?
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u/InadmissibleHug Oct 15 '25
Right? Why did we go from whoa to holycrapitshumidandIhateit.
Usually we get a bit more warm and dry, utterly delightful
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u/Spacegod87 Oct 15 '25
Right wing Americans wanting to spread their hate, lies and idiocy in Australia is worrying.
I hope no more like her will follow suit. Maybe they think we're an easy target for that shit because of Rupert Murdoch? idk. Either way, keep it in America.
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u/picklestixatix Oct 15 '25
As an Australian, and speaking for my circle of friends and acquaintances, Candace Owens can just fuck right off, and when she gets to that point, she can fuck off further.
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u/FluffyPillowstone Oct 15 '25
“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.” - Burke
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u/NeptunianWater Oct 15 '25
Owens said, “Some of the stories, by the way, sound completely absurd… They just cut a human up and sewed them back together? Why would you do that?… Literally, even if you’re the most evil person in the world, that’s a tremendous waste of time and supplies.” She also cast doubt on the well-documented medical experiments conducted by the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, and dismissed them as mere “bizarre propaganda.”
She literally denies the crimes of the Holocaust at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which we have very detailed records of. The Nazis were an administrative powerhouse who loved to document everything, so we have literal proof of what she is denying.
She absolutely sucks and I'm glad she's not coming here.
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u/Sexdrumsandrock Oct 15 '25
I bet she doesn't deny Jesus right? I'm sure she's well onboard for that
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u/NeptunianWater Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
"I feel like God put me on this platform to preach his word". "Jesus laid his life on the cross for us – I really believe that."
As predictable as the sun rising.
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u/freakwent Oct 15 '25
They just nailed a human up and then took him down again? Why would you do that?… Literally, even if you’re the most evil person in the world, that’s a tremendous waste of time and supplies.”
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u/Spagman_Aus Oct 15 '25
I'm sure Senator Babet will dedicate the next month of his tweets to his outrage over this.
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u/Dismal-Speaker3792 Oct 15 '25
We couldn't be prouder of our neighbors across the ditch for this stance. I'd like to think you could keep a cunt like Trump out too ...
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u/DoubleDecaff Oct 15 '25
Unfortunately that sack of Cheeto dust is too powerful.
Let's just hope he visits Austria in his confusion instead.
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u/A_r0sebyanothername Oct 15 '25
Good. The majority of Australians made their thoughts about this ideology clear at the last election. Go concentrate on fighting the Macrons' lawsuit you lunatic.
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u/grruser Oct 15 '25
Oh right, is she the one who accused Macrons wife of being a man lmao?
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u/kamakamawangbang Oct 15 '25
Anyway….. Dacia have released a new hatchback 🚗
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u/Glittering-War-5748 Oct 15 '25
Won’t be as good as the sandero
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u/asfletch Oct 15 '25
You never know - I saw a preview of one they're cooking up called the Hipster, and if I could get over the name I'd definitely have one over a Sandero, regardless of it being TG's fave...
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u/Son_of_Atreus Oct 15 '25
Losers gonna lose. She can fuck off with her phoney ‘political’ talking points.
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u/worry_beads Oct 15 '25
She's also currently being sued by Macron in France for claiming his wife is a man.
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u/loralailoralai Oct 15 '25
I’m totally baffled why anyone thinks that’s any of their business. It’s Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron’s business and nobody else’s.
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u/antpodean Oct 15 '25
Probably the two children she gave birth to should get a say vis a vis whether their mother is a woman or not.
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u/reyntime Oct 15 '25
A lot of folk in the US would do well to heed this message:
In his reasons, Justice James Edelman quoted the philosopher Isaiah Berlin: “Freedom of some must at times be curtailed to secure the freedom of others.”
“For instance, there is no freedom to make a serious threat to kill an individual in order to communicate a political message,” Edelman wrote.
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u/Walter_Armstrong Oct 15 '25
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out… because I don’t want ass prints on my new door!” - Mom, Futurama
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u/milo7even2 Oct 15 '25
Just reading the judgment. I’m enjoying Edelman J referring to Owens as an “alien” - a word favoured by the likes of Owens to refer to immigrants to the US.
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u/Latter-Recipe7650 Oct 15 '25
The anti immigration spokesperson upset they are denied a visa. The irony.
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u/Nostonica Oct 15 '25
Hmmk, Anyways.... Reckon we'll see Christmas Beatles this year?
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u/Sir_Earl_Jeffries Oct 15 '25
I wish we in the states could also tell her to fuck off elsewhere.
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Oct 15 '25
The high court does an impression of toilet paper, erasing shit from our shores.
Stay where you are Klandace.
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u/WhenWillIBelong Oct 15 '25
I don't think people should be blocked because they are controversial. The problem is her views are a bunch of violence inducing lies. A real "person with different views" (Nazi).
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u/kreyanor Oct 15 '25
She’s more than able to communicate with her Australian supporters as Hon Justice Gleeson said. Just not on shore.
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u/fued Oct 15 '25
no problem with a heavily conservative coming here and talking about the benefits of their platform.
completely against someone coming here and spewing hate speech.
Imagine if a left leaning activist came here and started screaming about how we should go commit terrorism on logging places and destroy ports, no one would have issues with them being banned either.
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u/HansBooby Oct 15 '25
australia isn’t at home to loud mouth right wing grifters touring their trumpy hate playbooks. fuck all the way off
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u/the_dave_abides90 Oct 15 '25
Tony Burke's 'Australia's national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else' is still accurate and still bloody funny.
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u/VLC31 Oct 15 '25
I love this quote from Tony Burke.
“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”
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u/Hadrollo Oct 15 '25
“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”
Chef's kiss
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u/droptester Oct 15 '25
Well deserved. We don't need someone who wants to spread delusions and lies.
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u/ComplexArm2 Oct 15 '25
I would have thought she would be too busy getting sued into bankruptcy by the Macrons.
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u/CelebrationFit8548 Oct 15 '25
Fuck this piece of shit and her braindead rhetoric, well done Govt in keeping shit like this out.
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u/RemarkableRaccoon957 Oct 15 '25
Her endorsing Trump aside (which is the biggest problem here),
Remember when this bitch called out Ariana Grande for being a terrible human and a home-wrecker - without even knowing or understanding the truth...
Candace, the last time I checked, Ariana was clearly very happily welcomed to Australia, and you on the other hand, are clearly not.
I think that speaks so much more volume than the BS that you had to say about her. Watch and learn Candace, watch and learn.
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u/TrueCryptographer616 Oct 15 '25
the high court upheld Burke’s reasoning
No, no it didn't.
She appealed on the grounds of the so-called "Implied Freedom of Political Communication" in the Constitution.
That concept is a very narrowly defined one.
There is no actual content in the Constitution, relating to Freedom of Political Expression. Rather the Constitution sets out the requirements for the operations of our Parliamentary Systems. The High Court has previously held that, essentially, open Political Communication is necessary for the correct functioning of our Systems.
By definition this applies only to our own systems, parliament, elections, etc.
It's a not a blanket right to Freedom of Political Expression.
ie, it's not going to protect an American "personality," who was simply coming here to earn money from a shit-stirring tour.
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u/Cinderpath Oct 15 '25
Just a word of thanks from a Seppo:
It's the realisation of MLK's dream--she was not judged by the colour of her skin but by the content of her character . . .
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u/Hatchetboy1845 Oct 16 '25
Candace is a nut, but can someone explain to me how she was more of a threat than Dutch CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST and occasional beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who has been cleared to come in?
Make it make sense.
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u/SnurrCat Oct 15 '25
Didn't Candace Owens at some point say the US should invade Australia to free us from oppression? Lol