‘Propaganda’: ASIO chief Mike Burgess’ targeted in Hizb ut-Tahrir letter over comparisons to neo-Nazi group

A radical Islamic organisation banned in multiple countries has accused Australia’s spy chief of “propaganda pandering”, with sweeping reforms poised to label the outfit a proscribed hate group. Hizb ut-Tahrir – which is banned in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East – has been singled out ahead of the potential passage next week of reforms targeting so-called hate groups in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack. The neo-Nazi Nationalist Socialist Network (NSN), which this week disbanded, have also been targeted. In a letter to ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, the organisation accused the spy chief of having “eviscerated any claim to impartiality” during a 2025 lecture before the Lowy Institute in which likened Hizb ut-Tahrir’s “offensive rhetoric and insidious strategy” to the NSN. “As Director-General of ASIO, Australians expect you to provide clear, unambiguous and objective advice, to both the government and the Australian public,” the letter stated. “What is not accepted is your wading into the public conversation only to deliberately muddy what is already multifaceted and multi-layered.” Hizb ut-Tahrir claimed Mr Burgess’ presentation “afforded legitimacy to long discredited Zionist efforts” seeking to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism”. Mr Burgess has accused Hizb ut-Tahrir of disguising anti-Semitism as criticism of Israel – a charge the pro-Palestine movement has claimed is done to discredit legitimate criticism of the Middle East nation and its policies. “This argument cannot be sustained unless you are suggesting all pro-Palestinian activism equates to anti-Semitism,” the letter stated. “Your efforts are no longer intelligence gathering, it is propaganda pandering.” Mr Burgess also accused the group of purposefully operating within the bounds of the law in regard to issues such as hate speech and incitement. “You diminished the value of the law by problematising its adherence,” the letter stated. “Staying within the law is not circumventing the law, it is the law. “To suggest a nefariousness upon its adherence is to suggest that upon every law-abiding citizen in relation to every law.” The letter went on to deny it was seeking to establish a caliphate in Australia nor enact it through force, and accused Mr Burgess of “Islamophobic tropes painting Muslims as fifth columns in this country”. Hizb Ut Tahrir is banned in the UK, Germany, China, Indonesia, and a number of Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. Its adherents following a strict, pan-Islamist form of the Muslim faith, and have in the past called for the establishment of a united Islamic caliphate. In Australia, it has long been dogged by controversy. Lindt cafe siege gunman Man Haron Monis was found to have attended several of the group’s events prior to the 2014 attack – Hizb Ut tahrir is not suggested to have any association with the attack. More recently, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has singled out the group as part of the Albanese government’s reforms following the Bondi Beach terror attack. The reforms would make it easier for the federal government to designate organisations as prohibited hate groups. Once a group is designated, it would become a criminal offence to be a member or provide any kind of support to the organisation. Conviction for member carries a maximum 15-year jail term. Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesperson Wassim Doureihi this week defended the group as being “neither hateful nor violent” in an interview with the ABC.