Hamas has launched a fresh Federal Court challenge seeking to overturn Australia’s decision to list the entire Palestinian Islamist organisation as a terrorist group, reopening a politically charged legal fight months after an earlier challenge failed.
Federal Court documents reportedly show Hamas is seeking to invalidate or render inoperative the regulations that placed the entire organisation on Australia’s terrorist list in March 2022, or alternatively force the federal government to determine a further application for delisting.
The legal action does not change Hamas’s current status. Hamas remains a listed terrorist organisation under Australian law.
Australia listed Hamas in its entirety under the Criminal Code on 4 March 2022, more than 18 months before the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Before that decision, only its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, had been listed under the Criminal Code, having first been proscribed in November 2003.
The Albanese Government also reaffirmed its position on Hamas this month when Foreign Minister Penny Wong re-listed eight Hamas-linked people and an entity under separate counter-terrorism financing sanctions. The government described the October 7 attacks as “abhorrent acts of terror” that killed about 1,200 people, including Australian citizen Galit Carbone.
The latest court case reportedly challenges the basis for treating Hamas’s political, administrative and military components as one terrorist organisation.
Hamas argues that its broader activities include the administration of health, education, water, disability and other civilian services in Gaza and contends those functions should not themselves be treated as terrorist acts.
It also disputes the proposition that every death or event associated with the October 7 attacks can automatically be attributed to Hamas as a terrorist act and argues that it poses no direct threat to Australia.
That latter point partly reflects the Australian Government’s own published statement of reasons, which says there are “no known direct links between Hamas and Australia” and that Hamas has not specifically threatened Australians or Australian interests.
But the same government assessment concludes there are insufficient grounds to treat Hamas’s military and political structures as genuinely separate.
The Department of Home Affairs says Hamas’s military wing sits within the organisation’s broader structure and notes significant overlap between political and military leadership. It also cites statements from Hamas leaders describing the organisation and its armed wing as parts of the same body.
Under the Criminal Code, the responsible minister may list an organisation where satisfied on reasonable grounds that it is directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting or fostering terrorist acts, or advocates terrorist acts.
Being listed carries serious legal consequences in Australia.
Offences include directing a terrorist organisation, membership, recruiting, training, providing funds or resources and intentionally providing certain forms of support. Some offences carry penalties of up to 25 years in prison. Australian law also contains an association offence, subject to exceptions including humanitarian assistance and legal representation.
The latest proceedings follow a lengthy series of attempts to challenge Hamas’s designation.
Documents released by the Department of Home Affairs under freedom of information laws show a delisting application had been lodged in August 2024. An internal government brief signed in July 2025 said the application had initially been overlooked because of an administrative error before being considered as Federal Court litigation was under way.
Hamas subsequently lodged its own application seeking removal from the terrorist list in late 2025 after an earlier effort to intervene in proceedings brought by Indigenous activist Robbie Thorpe was rejected.
Mr Thorpe and solicitor Daniel Taylor then pursued a separate challenge to the government’s refusal to delist Hamas.
Federal Court Justice Graeme Hill dismissed that case in February 2026.
The court found, among other things, that the minister’s decision was not legally unreasonable, that the applicant was not owed procedural fairness in the manner argued and that the decision did not breach constitutional limits relied upon by the applicants.
Importantly, the court was not being asked to make its own political assessment of whether Hamas should be removed from the terrorist list.
Australian government guidance makes clear that the listing system is an executive and regulatory process established under Division 102 of the Criminal Code. Judicial review generally concerns whether government decisions were lawfully made rather than allowing a court simply to substitute its preferred policy decision.
The new action is understood to be represented by Sydney solicitor Daniel Taylor, who was also involved in the earlier litigation.
According to the latest court material, Hamas is seeking either a declaration that the regulations underpinning its listing are invalid or inoperative, or an order compelling the government to act on its latest delisting application.
The dispute has drawn an angry response from Jewish community organisations.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said Hamas had no basis to be removed from the terrorist list and described the latest challenge as displaying “breathtaking” audacity.
“Hamas can engage as many lawyers as it likes, but no amount of legal argument can erase the atrocities of October 7,” Mr Leibler said.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin also condemned the action, warning that removing Hamas from the list would have serious consequences for the way Australian terrorism laws apply to the organisation.
Jewish organisations have previously argued that attempts to delist Hamas minimise both the October 7 attacks and the organisation’s longer history of attacks against Israeli civilians.
Hamas and its legal supporters have argued, by contrast, that the Australian designation improperly treats its political and civilian functions as indistinguishable from its military wing and restricts political discussion and engagement connected with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The government has consistently rejected those arguments.
Home Affairs’ published assessment says the majority of Hamas terrorist attacks have been carried out by its military wing but that Hamas political leaders have acknowledged and supported the armed wing’s activities and that the organisation cannot be neatly divided for the listing.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke, who previously served as Home Affairs Minister and was involved in the earlier delisting dispute, was dismissive of the latest action, telling the Herald Sun:
“If people that bad hate me, it’s a badge of honour.”
The case comes less than a month after Australia again imposed counter-terrorism financing sanctions on people and entities linked to Hamas’s international investment network.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said profits from that network were used to finance Hamas’s terrorist activities.
The latest challenge therefore sets up another test of the boundaries between executive power, judicial review and Australia’s counter-terrorism laws.
But unless and until a court makes orders affecting the designation, the legal position remains unchanged: Hamas in its entirety is a listed terrorist organisation in Australia.
The matter is expected to return to the Federal Court for an interlocutory hearing in May.
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