Australia Officially Bans Pan-Islamist Group Hizb ut-Tahrir

Under new Bondi laws, it will be a crime to be a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, recruit for the group, or provide training or funds to support it in Australia.

Members of banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir take part in a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 7, 2025. Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images

The Australian government has listed fundamentalist Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group under new laws introduced following the Bondi terrorist attack.

This means it will be a crime to be a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, recruit for the group, or provide training or funds to support it in Australia.

Part of a global Islamic caliphate movement, Hizb ut-Tahrir is already banned in Germany, Egypt, Bangledesh, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya and many central Asian nations.

Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has also been banned across multiple countries.

The key difference between the two being that the Muslim Brotherhood engages in the democratic process in seeking greater influence, while Hizb ut-Tahrir adopts a more radical approach that rejects secular governance.

Notably, the group backs a global, borderless Islamic caliphate and shun Western concepts such as democracy and universal human rights.

Speaking on ABC radio, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed Australia had joined the list of nations to outlaw the Islamist group.

“There’s a general acceptance from Australians that there is a level of hatred and dehumanising language that does provide a pathway for violence, even if it’s not using the words violence,” he said.

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

“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.”

Opposition Supports the Move

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam welcomed the move, but said it should have been done long ago.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir have advocated some of the most appalling and disgusting approaches to how society should work, and have done this in our suburbs with impunity,” he said.

“They should have been shut down a long time ago.”

The move comes just months after Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Australian chaper—which has since vanished offline—issued an open letter to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO) Director-General Mike Burgess.

Burgess publicly named Hizb ut-Tahrir as a security threat and compared it to the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network—which has disbanded in the wake of the new hate speech laws.

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

Meanwhile, the group accused Burgess of spreading propaganda against Muslims.

Liberal MP Leon Rebello previously stated that groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir had acted as “conveyor belts” to terrorism and had fuelled anti-Semitism in Australia.