Hezbollah flag-carriers investigated by police, as government appoints envoy to combat Islamophobia

The Albanese government has indicated it will examine the visa status of protesters waving Hezbollah flags at pro-Palestine demonstrations in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Monday the government was asking authorities in the two states to “check the visa status of anyone who comes to their attention”.

“I won’t hesitate to cancel the visas of visitors to our country who are spreading hate,” Burke said.

In public comments at the start of Monday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “We’ve seen worrying signs over the weekend. We do not want people to bring radical ideologies and conflict here. Our multiculturalism and social cohesion cannot be taken for granted.”

Opposition spokesman James Paterson said those with Hezbollah flags who are on visas should have them cancelled and they should be deported.

“It’s a breach of the Commonwealth Criminal Code,” Paterson said. “In December last year, the parliament voted unanimously to amend the Commonwealth Criminal Code to make it an offence to display either a Nazi logo or symbol or the symbol of a listed terrorist organisation, and that includes Hezbollah.”

The Australian Federal Police late Monday said it was expecting at least six “reports of crime” from Victoria Police allegedly involving prohibited symbols and chants, that were being investigated by the AFP for potentially breaching the Counter-Terrorism legislation.

“The mere public display of a prohibited symbol on its own does not meet the threshold of a Commonwealth offence,” the AFP said.

“The Criminal Code sets out very specific elements that must be met in order to charge an individual with a prohibited symbol offence.

"The prohibited symbol must be displayed in circumstance where the conduct involves: spreading ideas based on racial superiority or hatred; inciting others to offend or intimidate a person; advocating hatred of a person; advocating inciting others to offend, intimidating or using force or violence against a person or group based upon their race, religion or nationality; or is likely to offend, insult or intimidate people because of a defining characteristic.”

Meanwhile, the government has appointed Aftab Malik, a New South Wales public servant who has worked on promoting social cohesion and countering extremism, as its special envoy to combat Islamophobia.

The announcement comes following a long search, and well after the appointment of a special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal.

Albanese and Burke said in a statement Malik, who was born in in Britain to Pakistani parents, is “recognised as a global expert on Muslim affairs by the UN Alliance of Civilisations”.

He has served as the senior advisor to the Abu Dhabi Forum for Promoting Peace, and as a board advisor to the British Council’s “Our Shared Future” project, headquartered in Washington DC.

Albanese and Burke said the appointment was part of the government’s strategy “to ensure all Australians feel safe and included”.

Malik will engage with members of the Muslim community, experts on religious discrimination and all levels of government, in combatting Islamophobia. He is appointed for three years and will report to both Albanese and Burke.

Malik said antisemitism and Islamophobia were “not mutually exclusive – where there is one, you will most likely find the other”.

The appointment was immediately criticised by the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN).

APAN said these envoys “which single out particular experience of racism for special government investment and attention, failed to address the increasingly frequent and severe forms of racism experienced by Palestinians – not all of whom are Muslims – First Nations peoples and other marginalised communities”.

“APAN calls on the federal government to dissolve both special envoy roles and instead engage in evidence-based, systemic anti-racism efforts that support the entire Australian community in eliminating racism and bigotry.”