Tamaki claims he was denied entry to Australia after 12-hour interrogation

Controversial church leader Brian Tamaki claims he was detained and interrogated for 12 hours after arriving in Australia this week, before being denied entry and sent back to New Zealand.

In a social media post this afternoon, Tamaki says he was detained at Brisbane Airport after being questioned by the Australian Border Force over his remarks about immigration and the Indian Prime Minister.

The Destiny Church leader said he left New Zealand with his family on Tuesday to attend the Destiny Church conference on the Gold Coast this weekend.

When he landed in Brisbane, he claims he was pulled aside by border officials and taken into a small room.

“For the next 12 hours straight, I was interrogated. Then I was put into a confinement place to stay overnight.”

“Australia[n] Border Control said that they were basically concerned that my presence in Australia would disrupt or upset the Australian kind of way of life.”

He said he was told that his presence would especially affect the Muslim and Sikh communities.

He said he was under guard in an immigration detention centre and “interrogated” by different border control officers.

He described it as a “very intense time”.

“They actually cancelled my visa and basically deported me, or I was sent home.”

His post comes after Tamaki pleaded not guilty in the Manukau District Court on Monday to inciting racial disharmony.

Brian Tamaki appeared in the Manukau District Court on Monday.

Tamaki said his detention was a “collaboration, a setup by two nations”.

“It’s a serious thing really when you can see New Zealand and Australia have collaborated together to basically go after one person to silence them.”

He said he was told by border officials that they needed to question him on things he said about mass immigration, Islam and Sikhism.

He was asked questions about statements relating to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his “human rights abuses”.

“They were bringing up the same stuff that [Police Minister] Mark Mitchell and New Zealand Police brought up four or five months ago.”

The Australian Border Force and Destiny Church have been approached for comment.

Tamaki pleads not guilty

The charges Tamaki faces in the Manukau District Court relate to alleged offending in June.

The charge sheets say the offending included “abusive” and “insulting” posts on Facebook likely to excite “ill will”.

In June this year, Tamaki made remarks on his podcast accusing Modi of persecuting Christians in India and said that, if churches were being burned down in India, “why don’t we burn mosques and their temples down? Tit for tat”.

He later told Ryan Bridge TODAY, “I’m not a violent person, didn’t mean that, but that’s comparative”.

Tamaki acknowledged he had not been threatened by any Hindu people and that no churches had been burned down in New Zealand.