In brief
- Burke said his department had received advice from ASIO that the group met the legal threshold to be banned.
- Established in 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamic political organisation with chapters around the world.
The federal government has begun the process of banning Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir under new hate group laws, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has revealed.
Speaking on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, Burke said his department had received advice from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that the group met the legal threshold to be banned.
Under hate group laws introduced after the Bondi Beach terror attack, a new legal framework was established that allows the home affairs minister to ban groups found to be engaging in or advocating hate crimes based on race, nationality or ethnic origin.
Burke said his department would now prepare a briefing to satisfy him that the radical cleric group increased the risk of hate-motivated violence.
The opposition leader would then be briefed before the attorney-general signed off on the laws.
"This is the first time we have been able to ban, potentially, a group which falls short of a terrorist listing," he said.
"It says you don't have to be specifically calling for, but you do have to be acting in a way that increases the risk of communal violence or politically-motivated violence."
The federal government announced in December that the laws were intended to target "hate preachers". They named Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi group that disbanded in January, as organisations it wanted banned.
Established in 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamic political organisation with chapters around the world. Its name translates to "Party of Liberation".
The organisation is banned in several countries, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, China and several countries in Central Asia.
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