Which community groups lobbied for David Icke’s 2019 visa cancellation and what evidence did they present?
Executive summary
Jewish community organisations led the public campaign to have David Icke’s 2019 Australian visa revoked, most prominently the Anti-Defamation Commission and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and they provided documented examples of Icke’s past antisemitic statements and conspiracy claims to immigration authorities and ministers [1] [2]. The government invoked character grounds — including the risk of vilifying a segment of the Australian community — after receiving submissions and political pressure that cited Icke’s history of Holocaust denial-adjacent rhetoric and conspiracist claims about “Rothschild” influence and Jewish people [3] [4].
1. Who lobbied: named organisations and broader Jewish groups
The most consistently named organisations in coverage are the Anti-Defamation Commission and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, with broader references to “Jewish groups” and the Community Security Trust also urging a ban [1] [2] [5]. Media reporting and community outlets note the Anti-Defamation Commission’s chair, Dvir Abramovich, as a public spokesperson celebrating the outcome and saying Jewish groups had analysed and delivered materials to the immigration minister [2] [4].
2. What evidence they presented to ministers and officials
Jewish campaigners presented collections of Icke’s writings and public statements, characterising them as antisemitic and alleging he promoted Holocaust denial and conspiracies about Jewish control — specific citations in community reporting include claims that Icke described Judaism as “incredibly racist,” wanted Holocaust denial taught in schools, and asserted “Rothschild Zionists” secretly dominate the world [4] [2]. Dvir Abramovich told journalists his group had “analysed David Icke’s writing” and provided what he called a “smoking gun” to the minister’s office [2]. Other organisations like the Community Security Trust framed Icke as “essentially a hate preacher” and cited his long record of antisemitic conspiracy theorising [5].
3. The legal rationale the government used after receiving those submissions
Officials relied on visa character provisions that allow refusal where a visitor might “vilify a segment of the Australian community” or “incite discord,” and mainstream outlets reported the government cancelled Icke’s visa on those character grounds after the community complaints and political appeals [6] [3]. Coverage records that Labor and some coalition MPs publicly welcomed the minister’s decision as consistent with protecting community standards, reflecting the way the submissions were framed to highlight risk to public order and to the Jewish community specifically [7] [3].
4. Icke’s rebuttal and alternative framing provided to the public
David Icke publicly denied antisemitism, called the revocation a “smear campaign” and accused politicians of listening to “special interest groups,” arguing that he had been banned “with no shred of evidence” and asserting his views on other topics were cited as reasons [1] [7]. His defenders and some commentators characterised the reaction as a free-speech controversy, while reporting makes clear those claims were contested by the documented record community groups submitted [8] [2].
5. Politics, motivations and implicit agendas in the campaign
Beyond community safety claims, the record shows parliamentary candidates and politicians also lobbied the minister — for example Kate Ashmor and Labor candidate Josh Burns publicly pressed for cancellation — which threaded community protection arguments into electoral and media pressure on the minister [9] [5]. Community groups framed their efforts as defensive against a history of antisemitic rhetoric; critics of the ban framed it as political caution or overreach, a tension visible across the sources [2] [1].
6. Conclusion: what the sources support — and what they do not
Primary reporting uniformly identifies Jewish communal organisations — especially the Anti-Defamation Commission and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry — as the leading lobbyists and documents the types of evidence they offered to government: curated examples of Icke’s writings and statements alleging antisemitism, Holocaust denial tendencies and conspiratorial claims about Jewish influence [2] [4] [5]. Sources also record Icke’s denial and claims of a smear campaign but do not substantiate his counter-claim that no evidence existed; the public record as cited by community groups and news outlets shows material they used to justify the minister’s exercise of character powers [1] [3].