{"id":598,"date":"2026-01-27T18:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/?p=598"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:17:53","slug":"is-your-australian-visa-at-risk-of-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/is-your-australian-visa-at-risk-of-cancellation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0e04\u0e38\u0e13\u0e40\u0e2a\u0e35\u0e48\u0e22\u0e07\u0e15\u0e48\u0e2d\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e16\u0e39\u0e01\u0e22\u0e01\u0e40\u0e25\u0e34\u0e01\u0e27\u0e35\u0e0b\u0e48\u0e32\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e39\u0e48\u0e2b\u0e23\u0e37\u0e2d\u0e44\u0e21\u0e48?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Can sharing a social media post online now cost you your future in Australia? Here\u2019s the truth about the new \u201cBondi Law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are on a visa in Australia, your digital past and present just became a legal landmine and maybe your liability. On&nbsp;<strong>January 20, 2026<\/strong>, the Australian Parliament fast-tracked the&nbsp;<strong><em>Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>through both the House and the Senate in a single day as the government\u2019s emergency response to the Bondi Beach shooting on December 14, 2025.<br><strong>This law is no longer a debate.<\/strong>&nbsp;The Bill has already passed both houses and is now awaiting&nbsp;<strong>Royal Assent<\/strong>. Once that signature is on the page, this becomes the absolute Law of Australia.<br><br><strong>Key Changes to Migration Law in 2026:<\/strong><br>1. Lower Threshold for Failing the \u201cCharacter Test\u201d in Section 501(6)(d) of&nbsp;<em>The Migration Act<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most critical changes is the lowering of the legal bar for visa cancellation or refusal. In the old law, the government often had to show a risk that you&nbsp;<strong>\u201cwould\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;vilify a segment of the community to cancel your visa as a preventative method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The New Law:<\/strong>\u00a0The law officially replaces the word\u00a0<strong>\u201cwould\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0with\u00a0<strong>\u201cmight.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0*<br><strong>The Impact:<\/strong>\u00a0The Minister now only needs to reasonably suspect that you\u00a0<em>might<\/em>\u00a0cause discord (listed under the section). This allows for visa cancellation and refusal based on \u201cpotential\u201d behaviour or what you might do in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A brand new section 501(6A) of the&nbsp;<em>Act<\/em>&nbsp;of the law called&nbsp;<strong>\u201cSpreading Hatred and Extremism\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;has been added to the \u201cCharacter Test\u201d. This includes new grounds for the \u201cCharacter test\u201d and where your social media becomes a major risk.<br><strong>2.<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Past or Present Membership<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>(Section 501(6A)(a):<\/strong><br>If you&nbsp;<strong>are<\/strong>, or have&nbsp;<strong>ever<\/strong>&nbsp;been, a member of an organisation that is later listed as a&nbsp;<strong>Prohibited Hate Group<\/strong>, a Terrorist Organisation, or a State Sponsor of Terrorism, you fail the character test.<br><strong>What is a \u201cMember\u201d?<\/strong>&nbsp;The law defines this broadly to include past and present \u201cinformal members\u201d or anyone who has \u201ctaken steps\u201d to join the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3.<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Guilty By Association<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>(Section 501(6A)(b)<\/strong>:<br>This is even broader. You don\u2019t have to be a \u201cmember\u201d to lose your visa. If you have an&nbsp;<strong>\u201cassociation\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp;with one of these groups, you are at risk.<br><strong>The \u201cIntention\u201d Factor:<\/strong>&nbsp;For an association, the Minister must suspect you intended to support \u201cterrorism, extremism, or hatred.\u201d<br><strong>The Association:<\/strong>&nbsp;A&nbsp;<strong>single message<\/strong>&nbsp;in a group chat or attending&nbsp;<strong>one meeting<\/strong>&nbsp;with a group that the government later \u201clists\u201d as a Prohibited Hate Group could be enough for the Minister to reasonably suspect you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4. Hate Crimes:<\/strong><br>Under&nbsp;<strong>Section 501(6A)(c)<\/strong>, a person can fail the character test if they have been involved in conduct \u201cconstituting a hate crime.\u201d<br><strong>The Impact:<\/strong>&nbsp;This shifts the decision-making from a court of law to the Minister\u2019s \u201creasonable suspicion.\u201d<br><strong>The Clause:<\/strong>&nbsp;The Bill explicitly states this ground applies&nbsp;<strong>\u201cwhether or not the person\u2026 has been convicted of an offence.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Social Media \u201cEndorsement\u201d: The New Trap for Visa Holders and Applicants.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Power:<\/strong>\u00a0The Minister can now refuse or cancel a visa if they\u00a0<strong>\u201creasonably suspect\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0you have made or\u00a0<strong>publicly endorsed<\/strong>\u00a0hateful statements based on superiority over or hatred of other persons on the basis of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, and you also pose a risk of harm to the Australian community.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The \u201cEndorsement\u201d Mystery:<\/strong>\u00a0The law targets anyone who \u201cendorses\u201d hate speech. But what does \u201cendorse\u201d actually mean?\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Official Guide:<\/strong>\u00a0For this section (Section 501(6A)(d)), the government\u2019s Explanatory Memorandum specifically includes\u00a0<strong>reposting<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>sharing<\/strong>\u00a0hateful statements (as opposed to encouraging someone to make such statements under section 501(6A)(e)) as examples of \u2018endorsement\u2019. However, it makes no specific comment regarding whether \u2018liking\u2019 such statements counts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Big Question: Could a simple \u201cLike\u201d be interpreted as endorsement?<br>Tell us what you think!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can sharing a social media post online now cost you your future in Australia? Here\u2019s the truth about the new \u201cBondi Law.\u201d If you are on a visa in Australia, your digital past and present just became a legal landmine and maybe your liability. On&nbsp;January 20, 2026, the Australian Parliament fast-tracked the&nbsp;Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[43,42,41],"class_list":["post-598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-character-ground","tag-social-media","tag-visa-cancellation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":600,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springmigration.com.au\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}