Far-right influencer Candace Owens lost her High Court appeal Wednesday after Australia's judicial system unanimously determined that a person who called Josef Mengele's concentration camp experiments "bizarre propaganda" might not represent the country's best interests as a tourist.
The court upheld Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's decision to deny Owens entry based on her failure to pass the nation's "character test," a rigorous evaluation apparently requiring applicants to demonstrate they will not actively incite discord in multiple directions simultaneously.
Burke cited Owens' commentary portfolio, which ranges from downplaying the Holocaust to claiming Muslims started slavery, noting her "capacity to incite discord in almost every direction" — a skill set the minister diplomatically suggested would be better exercised literally anywhere else on Earth.
Owens, who previously explained on her podcast that Mengele's human experiments sounded absurd because "even if you're the most evil person in the world, that's a tremendous waste of time and supplies," reportedly expressed confusion that Australia would reject someone with such thoughtful economic critiques of genocide.
The commentator's legal team argued that denying her visa violated the implied freedom of political communication, a constitutional principle the High Court judges clarified does not, in fact, guarantee Americans the inalienable right to visit Australia and share theories about how the Holocaust was probably exaggerated.
Burke noted that while Owens already possessed the ability to incite discord through her 18 million social media followers, her physical presence in Australia would "amplify that potential" — suggesting the minister feared she might incite discord more efficiently in person, perhaps through improved acoustics.
"Australia's national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else," Burke stated, in what historians are calling the most Australian diplomatic statement ever recorded.
Following the ruling, Burke described the decision as "a win for social cohesion," adding that "inciting discord might be the way some people make money, but it's not welcome in Australia."
At press time, Owens was ordered to pay the Commonwealth's legal costs, with sources confirming the invoice likely represents a tremendous waste of her supplies.
