But he vowed the law will change. Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir 'campaigns against Australian values and interests'. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "At the moment we can only ban organisations that engage in terrorism," Mr Abbott said. "Under the law that we are bringing through the Parliament hopefully before the end of the year, it will be an offence to promote terrorism - not just to engage in terrorism - but to promote terrorism. Then, I suppose, we have to have another look at Hizb ut-Tahrir to see whether they fall under the definition of promoting terrorism." Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in many Arab countries but not Australia or the US.

The organisation is holding a lecture on Friday night in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba which will discuss "the politics and plots of the American-led intervention in Iraq and Syria". A flyer does not list who the guest speaker will be but Mr Abbott said he understands it will involve a "preacher of hate". Radio host Alan Jones wants Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir banned from Australia. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "I am sorry we haven't red-carded these hate preachers before but it will happen and it will happen quickly," Mr Abbott said. He said the government would use the character test component of visa applications to ban such speakers in the future. "I'm sorry it hasn't yet been done," Mr Abbott told Jones.

"But the thing that I now want to do swiftly is put in place the system whereby these preachers of hate, such as the individual who I believe is the top-drawer speaker on Friday night, are not allowed into Australia because we just don't need them. "There's no point importing troublemakers from overseas to stir people up." Speaking later to reporters in Sydney, Mr Abbott said changes were needed to prevent preachers of terror from being allowed into Australia. "What needs to happen is better co-ordination between our agencies so that immigration knows who these people are, it can tag them, should they apply for a visa and it can refuse visas to people who are coming to this country to peddle extreme and alien ideologies," he said. Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Uthman Badar responded on his Facebook page to Mr Abbott's comments, accusing the Prime Minister of getting his facts wrong.

"The speakers, who have not even been announced, are all local. There are no top drawer or international speakers," he wrote. "Evidently, the Prime Minister is not interested in facts when seeking to silence political dissent or whip up Islamophobic hysteria. This does not come as a surprise. We have long exposed government attempts to silence dissent against its unjust and brutal foreign policies and here we now see moves to legalise this silencing of dissent." Elsewhere on Mr Badar's Facebook page, the spokesman wrote: "Australian troops bombing Muslim lands do not represent us and they do not do so on our behalf. They do so on your behalf and on behalf of your warmongering colleagues in the political leadership and perhaps on behalf of those who invited you and stood by silently as you made such horrendous claims as this." Nearly 100 people are planning to attend Friday's lecture, according to the Facebook event. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said on Wednesday that the current system is adequate for blocking entry to people who seek to preach violence. Loading

"The Foreign Minister or the Minister for Immigration currently have the capacity to refuse a visa applicant entry," he said. Follow us on Twitter