How a single Bunnings photo proves Albo’s Immigration Minister Tony Burke made a staggering live TV blunder about his ‘hate’ laws
The Home Affairs Minister has been called out for claiming a religious leader who celebrated the October 7 terror attacks had long been deported from Australia, only for a photo of him enjoying a day at Bunnings this month to surface.
Tony Burke appeared on Sky News on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Albanese Government’s new anti-hate speech laws and how they would affect immigration.
As an example, the host asked whether the new laws, had they been applied in 2023, would have resulted in Islamic preacher Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun getting kicked out of Australia for praising Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Sheik Dadoun had called the attack, which claimed more than 1,000 lives, a ‘day of courage’.
‘I’m smiling and I’m happy. I’m elated,’ he told a crowd outside Sydney’s Lakemba Station shortly after the attack.
‘It’s a day of courage. It’s a day of pride. It’s a day of victory. This is the day we’ve been waiting for!’
Burke said of Sheikh Dadoun: ‘I’m not in a position to give a legal opinion on everything but, as you know, we got him out of the country within a couple of days.’
‘Often for people on a visa, the fastest thing to do is boot them and just get them out of Australia.’
Immigration Minister Tony Burke (pictured) mistakenly claimed a controversial Islamic preacher had been deported
Burke said Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun (pictured) was deported after celebrating the October 7 attack on Israel, despite him having posted a selfie in Bunnings a week ago
However, Sheikh Dadoun shared a picture online just last week of himself standing in a store belonging to Australia-based hardware chain Bunnings.
‘Sometimes when life gets a bit much, I go to Bunnings to de-stress,’ the controversial religious leader wrote.
‘Yeah, I like tools and fixing things. Anyone else do the same?’
Sky News host Chris Kenny was quick to say the ‘minister obviously has no idea’ what he was talking about, just hours after the initial interview.
A spokeswoman for Burke clarified to the Daily Mail that the minister had misheard the name as Khaled Beydoun, rather than Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun.
Beydoun, an American associate professor, had his visitor visa revoked after telling a pro-Palestine rally in western Sydney that October 7 was a day of ‘considerable celebration’.
Burke’s spokeswoman said the minister ‘wears a hearing aid’ and mixed up the two figures as the names ‘sound very similar’.
During the same interview on Tuesday, Burke answered whether hate preachers would be ‘locked up’ under Albanese’s new laws.
Burke’s media rep clarified the minister had misheard the name Khaled Beydoun (pictured), whose visa was cancelled after he made similar comments in 2023
‘If they call for violence, then yes,’ Burke said.
‘The frustration from the government is, under our original proposal, if you fell short of the violent call, there was something that criminal law could still do.’
Daily Mail has contacted the Opposition for comment.
