Far right US pundit Candace Owens launches legal challenge against Tony Burke

Far right American commentator Candace Owens has launched legal action against the Australian government following the rejection of her visa last month.

Ms Owens was booked to tour the country for a series of shows across November, but Immigration Minister Tony Burke blocked her visit on character grounds, arguing her controversial views could potentially incite “discord” in society.

“From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction,” Mr Burke said on announcing his decision to knock back her visa request.

“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Ms Owens said the challenge would argue Minister Burke’s decision was made with “clear bias and improper motivations”.

“According to Ms Owens’ legal representatives, Mr Burke displayed prejudice against her case from the outset, making public remarks that cast doubt on his impartiality long before a decision was made,” the spokesman said.

“Mr Burke also revealed private details of Ms Owens’s application to the media, further calling into question his neutrality.”

The spokesman said the grounds for Mr Burke’s refusal were “legally unreasonable and unjustifiable”.

“The minister’s conduct suggests that this decision was aimed at boosting his public image rather than upholding a fair process,” the spokesman said.

“Mr Burke has been asked to step down from any further involvement in this case. An impartial official should reconsider her application.”

The legal challenge follows a concerted pushback from Ms Owens across her social media channels in which she lashed the government for what she called a “petty act of vandalism”.

“I also want to make it clear to you guys that I found out at the same time that the press found out, so his office chose to leak this,” she said.

“This is supposed to be a private application process, so unless I spoke about this, no one should have known about this.”

She suggested her application was blocked due to her coverage of attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

“I just wanted to make sure that every person knows that despite me being fired, demonised, spoken ill about, I haven’t changed my position,” she said.

“That’s what this really is, a petty act of vandalism. No one’s worried about me coming to Australia because they’re angry that they’ve put this narrative out about me and my listeners haven’t accepted it.”

Acknowledging her rejected visa, which her team vowed to fight through an appeal in the Federal Court, Owens said she was disappointed she would not be able to “hug a koala” and “fight a kangaroo”.

“I did want to hug a koala, I’m not gonna lie, I did. I think koalas are really cute,” she said.

“I did also maybe kind of want to fight a kangaroo. I see a lot of these videos, they’re like jacked and like, punch people, and I was like, maybe that would be good content, but if I have to hang that up, I will hang that up.”

An announcement on her Ticketek page states she and her event organiser Rocksman are “optimistic about a favourable outcome”.

They have also promised existing ticketholders, some who have shelled out $1500 for VIP tickets, will be refunded.

“Should the appeal be denied and cancellation become necessary, we will promptly notify all ticketholders and begin processing refunds automatically on the organiser’s behalf,” the announcement said.

A spokeswoman for Owens said the live shows across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane had sold “tens of thousands of tickets”.

The influencer, who split from mainstream US conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and his news outlet The Daily Wire in March this year, counts 5.8 million followers on Twitter and some 5 million on Instagram.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim called on Mr Burke to cancel Ms Owens’ visa, arguing she failed the character test under the Migration Act.

“At a time of unprecedented strains on the cohesiveness of Australian society, which is very largely the outcome of ignorant and malicious comment on social media, the last thing we need to be importing into our country is yet another so-called celebrity who has made racist and bigoted comments about Jews and other vulnerable groups,” he said.

Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan also backed blocking Owens from Australia.

“There is no place in Australia for people who spread hateful messages and undermine social cohesion,” he said.