Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged a sweeping crackdown to root out extremism as the country reeled from the Bondi Beach shootings, but contrary to widely shared social media posts, he did not announce an outright ban on visas for people of Pakistani origin. The clip purportedly showing the Albanian making the announcement was generated using AI.
Log in to add translationLog in to add translation फ़ैसला लिया है।Log in to add a translationLog in to add a translation सकता।@KarishmaAziz_ @azizkavish… pic.twitter.com/PMkHLKFfGO
— 𝙼𝚛 𝚃𝚢𝚊𝚐𝚒 (@mktyaggi) December 14, 2025
The caption of a Facebook video posted by an India-based user on December 15, 2025 reads: “Following attacks by Islamic terrorists in Pakistan, the Australian Prime Minister has decided to cancel visas for all Pakistanis.”
The six-second video appears to show an Albanian saying: “Pakistani terrorist Naveed Akram has been arrested for today's terrorist attack. Australia will immediately suspend all visa operations for Pakistani nationals.”
The same video was shared in a similar X post, and claims about the alleged visa ban were also shared elsewhere on Facebook.
The post surfaced after Albanians pledged a sweeping crackdown to rid society of the “evil of anti-Semitism” in the wake of the December 14 shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
Father and son Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed, 24, are accused of firing into a crowd at a seaside Jewish festival, killing 15 people, in an attack by authorities linked to the Islamic State ideology (archive link). Sajid died in a shootout with police, but Naveed survived.
The Prime Minister announced plans for several measures, including giving the Home Secretary new powers to “cancel or refuse visas to people who spread hatred and division” (archive link).
However, an Australian Home Office spokesperson told AFP on December 19 that “there are no changes to visa services or applications for visa applicants from Pakistan.”
There are also no official reports that Albanon has identified the father or son suspected of carrying out the attack as Pakistani nationals.
At a press conference on December 15, Home Secretary Tony Burke said, “My son is an Australian citizen,” and his father originally entered Australia on a student visa in 1998 (archive link). He did not reveal anything about his nationality.
According to Indian police, Sajid was an Indian citizen (archive link).
“Sajid Akram is originally from Hyderabad, India. He… migrated to Australia in search of employment some 27 years ago in November 1998,” police in the southern Indian state of Telangana said in a statement.
Additionally, an analysis of Albanese's circulating video revealed errors indicating it was generated using AI.
His lip movements are not consistent with his speech and are formal and do not resemble a spoken voice (archive link).
Using a video that was accidentally shared, it was determined that it appeared to be generated from images of Albanians from before the Bondi shooting.
British newspaper The Guardian also posted a video of the same press conference, falsely showing the same setup (archive link).
