Far-right terrorism in Australia

{{further|Definitions of terrorism}}

Schmid's 2011 Revised Academic Consensus Definition of Terrorism was agreed after three rounds of consultations among experts in the field. The first of 12 points in his definition states:{{cite journal | title=The Revised Academic Consensus Definition of Terrorism |first=Alex P. |last=Schmid|author-link=Alex P. Schmid| date=16 May 2012 |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism| volume= 6|issue= 2 |url=http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/schmid-terrorism-definition | access-date=31 March 2021| quote= A description how it was arrived at can be found on pp. 39-98 of Alex P. Schmid (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. The same volume also contains 260 other definitions compiled by Joseph J. Easson and Alex P. Schmid on pp. 99-200.}} Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.{{blockquote|1. Terrorism refers, on the one hand, to a doctrine about the presumed effectiveness of a special form or tactic of fear-generating, coercive political violence and, on the other hand, to a conspiratorial practice of calculated, demonstrative, direct violent action without legal or moral restraints, targeting mainly civilians and non-combatants, performed for its propagandistic and psychological effects on various audiences and conflict parties;...}}

Researcher Miroslav Mares noted "the line between street violence perpetrated by subcultural networks can quickly blur into terrorist violence".

Right-wing extremism is a broad term used to encompass a variety of ideologies, including fascism, national socialism (Nazism), white supremacy, the common components of which are authoritarianism, anti-democracy and nationalism.

In Australia, right-wing extremists often believe that there is a threat to some aspect of their existence or society, and then attribute the cause as a particular target group, such as an ethnic community or those who adhere to a different, usually left-wing ideology. They overexaggerate and spread feelings of danger, blaming the target group, and think that the only way to rid society of the danger is to remove the threat, often by violent means.

{{further|Far-right politics in Australia|Ustaše in Australia}}

Far-right violent extremist groups have existed in Australia since the early 20th century, but their activities and impact has been minimal. After the First World War, there was an ex-soldiers' fascist movement in New South Wales known as the New Guard, a short-lived paramilitary organisation, which emerged from the Sydney-based Old Guard in 1931, during the Great Depression,{{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Andrew |title=The New Guard and the Labour Movement, 1931-35 |journal=Labour History |date=2005 |volume=89 |issue=89 |pages=55–72 |doi=10.2307/27516075 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516075 |access-date=5 November 2020 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |jstor=27516075 |quote=Though largely confined to one city, Eric Campbell had succeeded in building the most significant fascist organisation in Australia|url-access=subscription }} and regarded by some as the most successful fascist organisation in Australian history. The White Army, or League of National Security (LNS), formed in Victoria around 1931 and attracted some former members of the New Guard,{{cite thesis | last=Cathcart | first=Michael | title=The White Army of 1931: Origins and legitimations: The League of National Security in Victoria in 1931, and the means by which it was legitimated | publisher=Australian National University|via=Open Research | date=June 1985 | doi=10.25911/5d74e695b15b4 | url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/113889 | access-date=30 March 2021}}{{cite book | last = Horner | first = David | title = Blamey: The Commander-in-Chief | author-link = David Horner | author-mask=2 | publisher = Allen & Unwin | location = St Leonards, New South Wales | year = 1998 | isbn =1-86448-734-8 | oclc = 39291537|pages=93–97}} but the far right only became a stronger force in the late 1930s, with the Australia First Movement, who believed in a white Australia. Alexander Rud Mills was a vocal supporter, who also believed in "a racial interpretation of Odinism".Note: Norse mythology was later referenced by the Christchurch perpetrator. In 1941, plans to assassinate prominent Australians and to sabotage sites in Australia were discovered in the possession of Western Australian members.

File:Aftermath of September 1972 George St bombings in Sydney.png, allegedly carried out by the Ustaše]]

After World War II, the Australian League of Rights (a group still in existence{{cite web | title=Home | website=ALOR | date=7 February 2009 | url=http://www.alor.org/ | access-date=1 April 2021}}), led by Eric Butler, became active. Butler believed in the existence of a "Zionist Occupation Government", which controlled governments across the world, including that of Nazi Germany. This group tried to infiltrate mainstream political parties. Post-war immigration to Australia in the 1950s introduced far-right sympathisers from Europe into Australia, in particular sympathisers of the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization responsible for partaking in the Holocaust and Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. From 1963-1973, the Ustaše carried out fifteen attacks and inspired dozens more as part of a terrorism campaign of bombings and assassination attempts across Australia.{{cite journal |last1=Campion |first1=Kristy |title=The Ustaša in Australia: A Review of Right-Wing Ustaša Terrorism from 1963-1973, and Factors that Enabled their Endurance |journal=Salus Journal |date=2018 |volume=6 |issue=2 |url=https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/29095069/28757579_Published_article.pdf |access-date=6 February 2024}}

In the 1960s came the Australian National Socialist Party (re-constituted as the National Socialist Party of Australia in 1968), and from the late 1970s, ASIO was monitoring groups such as the Safari 8, the Legion of the Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth, and the Australian Youth Coalition, but they did not last long. In the 1970s and early 1980s the National Front of Australia and the Australian National Alliance emerged, and from the early 1980s, National Action.{{cite book|url=https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi491 | title= Violent extremism in Australia: An overview| first=Shandon |last=Harris-Hogan|series=Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice, No. 491|date=7 March 2017|issn =0817-8542}} [https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi491.pdf PDF]

Following a lull in activity, violence by the far-right in Australia surged in the 1980s. National Action members carried out attacks in Sydney, including a drive-by shooting. In 1984, the Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM) broke away from National Action, considering National Action not sufficiently anti-Semitic and embracing of neo-Nazism, and ANM members started a campaign which included violent assaults and fire-bombings. Australia "[did not experience] anything like the levels of right-wing extremism and violence that impacted Europe and North America in the 1990s" (2005),{{cite journal|last=James |first=S.|date= 2005|title= The policing of right-wing violence in Australia|journal=Police Practice and Research|volume= 6|issue=2|pages=103–119| doi= 10.1080/15614260500121088|s2cid=144944215 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15614260500121088|via=Taylor & Francis|url-access=subscription}} but some networks of subcultures, and the "skinhead" counterculture, including groups like the Southern Cross Hammerskins, Combat 18, Blood & Honour, and the Women of the Southern Legion harboured ideologies centred on racial identity.

Southern Cross Hammerskins, Combat 18, and Blood & Honour Australia continued to be active in Australia, and new ones have been founded since 2000.{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Alex |title=The pro-white gangs spreading race hate across Australia |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-prowhite-gangs-spreading-race-hate-across-australia/news-story/7384aef1faabe901d9f6937756a76ea8 |website=The Herald Sun |publisher=News International |date=7 October 2015|access-date=3 April 2021}}

Right-wing extremism began to increase around the world from around 2009, partly in response to jihadism (militant movements rooted in political Islam or Islamism and seen as an existential threat by some), but more often related to perceived threats to white culture posed by immigration. In this climate, Australian chapters of internationally based groups were founded, such as the Australian Defence League (originally an offshoot of the English Defence League) and Right Wing Resistance (from New Zealand).

Since around 2015 (when far-right groups stoked protests against the building of a mosque in Bendigo), the threat from far-right violent extremist groups has been increasing. Around 30–40% of ASIO's counter-terrorism work involved far-right individuals and groups in late 2020, an increase of 10–15% on the years before 2016. Although their capabilities are assessed as being on a smaller scale than the far-right extremists in Europe and the US, the ideologies are similar. Worldwide, individuals enable and encourage each other in online networks. White extremist attacks in the US, UK and Europe inspired the Christchurch shooter, Brenton Tarrant, and his actions on 15 March 2019 have inspired others around the world.{{cite web | title=Listing of neo-Nazi group won't stop the far-right threat to Australia|first=Teagan |last=Westendorf | website=The Strategist | date=3 March 2021 | url=https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/listing-of-neo-nazi-group-wont-stop-the-far-right-threat-to-australia/ | access-date=29 March 2021}}

Founder of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes was refused a visa to visit Australia in November 2018.

Australian right-wing extremists celebrated the 2021 United States Capitol attack in Washington, D.C., and experts warned of an increased threat of violence by white supremacists since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two government backbenchers, Craig Kelly and George Christensen, had aired conspiracy theories relating to the Capitol attack on social media, and the refusal of Prime Minister Scott Morrison to reprimand them was seen as "dangerous" by one expert on violent extremism.{{cite web | title='Peddlers of hate': Australian right-wing extremists celebrate Capitol riots|first=Cait |last=Kelly | website=The New Daily | date=16 January 2021 | url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/01/17/far-right-extremists-australia/ | access-date=29 March 2021}}

In its 2019–2020 annual report, ASIO rates Australia's national terrorism threat level as "probable", based on the assessment of credible intelligence. It states that "extremists such as neo-Nazis represent a serious, increasing and evolving threat to security. The 2019 Christchurch attack continues to be drawn on for inspiration by right-wing extremists worldwide", and says that these groups are attracting younger adherents of their ideologies. The extremists exploit the social and economic disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia to engage with others online. It says that 2020 "saw an increased growth in ASIO investigations related to extreme right-wing groups, individuals and emerging ideologies", with far-right extremist individuals comprising "around a third of all ASIO counter-terrorism investigative subjects". During this time too, for the second time, authorities disrupted planned terrorism in Australia linked to an individual with an extreme right-wing ideology.{{cite book | title=ASIO Annual Report 2019–2020|chapter=Australia's security environment and outlook |issn= 2204-4213 | website=Australian Security Intelligence Organisation | date=29 March 2021 | url=https://www.asio.gov.au/australias-security-environment-and-outlook.html | access-date=31 March 2021}} [https://www.asio.gov.au/sites/default/files/ASIO%20Annual%20Report%202019-20.pdf PDF] 50px Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/ Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)] licence.

A report published in March 2021, prepared jointly by the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR) in the UK and Hedayah, a research group based in the United Arab Emirates, and compiled with the policy assistance of the Australian Department of Home Affairs, says: "Australian chapters of more fringe neo-Nazi cells [have been] actively engaged in campaigns of radical right terror and violence". It also reported that since the Christchurch attack, extremist groups have "become more explicitly anti-Semitic, aggressively racist and white supremacist". Of the various groups named in the report, four have been proscribed in other countries, but not in Australia: Combat 18, which linked to the shooting of mosque in Perth in 2011 (proscribed in Canada, 2019; Germany, 2020), Blood and Honour (Canada, 2019), Generation Identity (France, 2021) and the Proud Boys (Canada, 2021). One of the researchers later named Antipodean Resistance and the National Socialist Network as local groups of concern. The latter group has been photographed in disguise at The Grampians, near Canberra and in Adelaide.{{cite web | last=Besser | first=Linton | title=Neo-Nazi groups banned in Canada and Europe set sights on Australia | website=ABC News|publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=28 March 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-28/banned-neo-nazi-groups-set-sights-on-australia/100030072 | access-date=29 March 2021}}

Joint Counter Terrorism Teams are run collaboratively by the AFP, state and territory police forces and ASIO. The AFP leads the National Disruption Group, which works with Australian communities and a number of other government agencies "to combat violent extremism and the radicalisation of Australians".{{cite web | title=Fighting home grown terrorism | website=Australian Federal Police | date=11 April 2016 | url=https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/fighting-terrorism/fighting-home-grown-terrorism | access-date=29 March 2021}}

Various agencies have reported not paying enough attention to right-wing extremism before the Christchurch massacre. The deputy commissioner of Victoria Police Ross Guenther told a March 2021 police briefing that they had been focusing on Islamist extremism owing to the threats by supporters of Islamic State in Australia, and that the Christchurch terrorist had been able to slip under the radar. Since then, the national and state agencies have been more focused on far-right extremism, with the greatest threat posed by individuals rather than groups.{{cite web | last=Bucci | first=Nino | title=Victoria police prioritised Isis threat over rightwing extremism until Christchurch attack | website=The Guardian | date=28 March 2021 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/29/victoria-police-prioritised-isis-threat-over-rightwing-extremism-until-christchurch-attack | access-date=1 April 2021}}

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security was due to report to the Minister for Home Affairs in April 2021 from its "Inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia", which lapsed when the membership of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) ceased to exist at the dissolution of the House of Representatives on Monday 11 April 2022.{{cite web | title=Inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia| website=Parliament of Australia | date=14 March 2021 | url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Intelligence_and_Security/ExtremistMovements | access-date=29 March 2021}} There have been calls to follow the example of Australia's other partners in the Five Eyes security collaboration and proscribe more of the far-right extremist groups.{{cite web | last=Karp | first=Paul | title=Rightwing extremists should be proscribed as 'terrorist organisations' in Australia, Kristina Keneally says | website=The Guardian | date=10 September 2020 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/10/rightwing-extremists-should-be-proscribed-as-terrorist-organisations-in-australia-kristina-keneally-says | access-date=29 March 2021}}

In March 2021 the first far-right extremist group was added to the list of proscribed terrorist groups, this group being the Sonnenkrieg Division,{{cite web | last=Knight | first=Ben | title=Why aren't Australian authorities banning more far-right extremist groups? |website=ABC News|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation| date=26 March 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-27/why-isnt-australia-banning-more-far-right-extremist-groups/100032018 | access-date=27 March 2021}} bringing the total to 27.

There is {{as of|lc=yes|March 2021}} only one significant program to counter the far-right extremist narrative in Australia. This is Community Action for Preventing Extremism, funded by Multicultural NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government, and run by All Together Now, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes racial equality. The program was established in 2012 and initially called Exit White Power.{{cite web | title=About Us | website=CAPE | date=21 March 2017 | url=https://cape.alltogethernow.org.au/about-us/ | access-date=29 March 2021}}

{{distinguish|Australian Nationalist Party}}

The Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM), later reborn as the Australian Nationalist Worker's Union (ANWU), was a Western Australian neo-Nazi, extreme right-wing group founded and led by Peter Joseph "Jack" van Tongeren. In 1989, Van Tongeren staged a series of racially motivated arson attacks, targeting businesses owned by Asian Australians. He was found guilty of 53 crimes and sentenced to 18 years.{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120892007|title=WA judge aborts alleged neo-Nazi trial over public prejudice fears|date=13 June 1990|work=The Canberra Times|page=3}}Judge D. Hammond, Sentencing of Jack Van Tongeren, 20 September 1990, p. 68{{Cite news|title=Skinhead Jailed for Gang Raid on House|date=13 July 1989|work=The West Australian}} After serving 13 years in prison for his crimes, Van Tongeren resumed anti-Asian activities upon his release in 2002. In February 2004 three Chinese restaurants, synagogues and Asian-owned businesses where firebombed, plastered with posters and daubed with swastikas. Five men were arrested for being involved in the attacks. The police also identified a plot to harm WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty and his family.{{Cite news|title=Anti-Asian Crusader on Dole|date=12 August 1987|work=The West Australian|page=1}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s682037.htm|title=Racist arsonist released from jail|last=Weber|first=David|date=20 September 2002|work=ABC|type=Transcript from PM radio program|ref=none}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/cib0203/03CIB22|title=Current Issues Brief No 22 2002–03: Crime and Candidacy|last=Holland|first=Ian|date=24 March 2003|website=Parliament of Australia|type=Current Issues Brief|ref=none}} In August 2004, Van Tongeren and his co-accused Matthew Billing faced the courts for the arson attacks.{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1170962.htm|title=WA police arrest white supremacist leader|last=David|first=Weber|date=6 August 2004|work=ABC|type=Transcript from PM radio program}} After a medical episode, Van Tongeren was released from jail on the condition that he leave Western Australia.

In 2007 the ANM/ANWU was reported to have been disbanded.[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/07/1091732133392.html?from=storylhs "Supremacist leader in court"] The Age. AAP. 7 August 2004. Retrieved 10 March 2015{{Cite news|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2007/05/28/notorious-anti-asian-hate-movement-bites-the-dust/|title=Notorious anti-Asian hate movement bites the dust|date=28 May 2007|work=Crikey}}

The Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB) was an Australian-based Croatian separatist and fascist terrorist organisation. The group was founded by four Croatian emigre, including one former Ustaše officer.{{cite book |last=Brawley |first=Sean |chapter=Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood |title=Doomed to Repeat? Terrorism and the Lessons of History |publisher=New Academia Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=9781955835046 }} From the 1960s, the HRB actively carried out terrorist attacks in both Australia and Yugoslavia, including bombings and assassination attempts, despite knowledge of their actions by ASIO and the Liberal Party of Australia. However by 1972, attacks in Australia largely ceased following an unprecedented intervention by the Australian Labor Party.{{cite book |last1=Heitmeyer |first1=Wilhelm |last2=Haupt |first2=Heinz-Gerhard |last3=Kirschner |first3=Andrea |last4=Malthaner |first4=Stefan |title=Control of Violence: Historical and International Perspectives on Violence in Modern Societies |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4419-0382-2 |page=397}}

{{hatnote|NOTE: There is some overlap with groups mentioned in Far-right politics in Australia.}}

{{Main|Antipodean Resistance}}

Antipodean Resistance (AR) is an Australian neo-Nazi group. Formed in October 2016, the group's flag features a swastika. The group's logo features the black sun and Totenkopf (skull head) with an Akubra hat, a laurel wreath and a swastika.{{Cite news|url=http://www.stawelltimes.com.au/story/4971439/neo-nazi-grampians-camp-used-for-recruitment/|title=Neo-Nazi Grampians camp used for recruitment|last=Martinich|first=Rex|date=6 October 2017|work=The Stawell Times-News|access-date=2017-12-27}} Antipodean Resistance promotes and incites hatred and violence, as illustrated in its anti-Jewish and anti-homosexual posters, with graphic images of shooting Jews and homosexuals in the head. One poster called to "Legalise the execution of Jews."{{cite news|url = https://www.abc.net.au/religion/antipodean-resistance-the-rise-and-goals-of-australias-new-nazis/10094794 |title =Antipodean Resistance: The Rise and Goals of Australia's New Nazis |first = Julie |last = Nathan |publisher=ABC News= }}{{cite web|date = 20 April 2017|first = Eden|last = Faithfull|url = http://www.usu.edu.au/News/White-Supremacist-Neo-Nazi-Group-Propaganda-Found.aspx|title = White Supremacist Neo-Nazi Propaganda Found on Sydney University Campus|website = usu.edu.au|publisher = University of Sydney Union|access-date = 5 September 2017|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170905094151/http://www.usu.edu.au/News/White-Supremacist-Neo-Nazi-Group-Propaganda-Found.aspx|archive-date = 5 September 2017}}{{cite news|author=Staff|url = https://www.jewishnews.net.au/hatred-on-our-doorsteps/67585|newspaper = Australian Jewish News|title = Hatred on our doorsteps|date = 17 August 2017|access-date = 5 September 2017|url-status = live|archive-date = 5 September 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170905095020/https://www.jewishnews.net.au/hatred-on-our-doorsteps/67585}}

In 2017, it was reported that ASIO, the Australian national security organisation, was monitoring the group, who were "willing to use violence to further their own interests".{{cite news|first = Jack|last = Houghton|url = https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/asio-tracking-neo-nazi-group-willing-use-violence/3221072|title = ASIO tracking Neo-Nazi group 'willing to use violence'|work = The Northern Star|date = 7 September 2017|access-date = 15 September 2017|archive-date = 29 October 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181029031001/https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/asio-tracking-neo-nazi-group-willing-use-violence/3221072/|url-status = dead}}

Members of the Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society organised the creation of a new group, the National Socialist Network, in late 2020, and Lads leader Thomas Sewell was one of the organisers of a 2021 group trip to the Grampians in January 2021 (see below).{{cite web | last1=McKenzie | first1=Nick | last2=Tozer | first2=Joel | title=The Australian Neo-Nazi movements going bush: Grampians cross burning spurs call for action | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=27 January 2021 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/neo-nazis-go-bush-grampians-gathering-highlights-rise-of-australia-s-far-right-20210127-p56xbf.html | access-date=5 April 2021}}

{{main|Australian Defence League}}

The Australian Defence League (ADL) is a neo-Nazi street gang. The gang is anti-Islam, and has been involved in making terrorist threats, abusing, stalking and doxxing Muslim Australians. The gang was founded in Sydney in 2009 by recidivist criminal Ralph Cerminara, who has a significant criminal record,{{cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Angus |title=Ex-head of Australian right-wing group posted anti-Islamic material online in breach of court order |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/ex-head-of-australian-right-wing-group-posted-anti-islamic-material-online-in-breach-of-court-order-20190320-p515xx.html |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=20 March 2019 |access-date=30 March 2019}} as an offshoot of the English Defence League.

{{main|National Socialist Network}}

The National Socialist Network (NSN{{cite web | title=How neo-Nazis use anti-lockdown protests to recruit new members|first= Cait |last=Kelly | website=The New Daily | date=25 August 2021 | url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/08/26/neo-nazi-anti-lockdown-recruit/ | access-date=27 August 2021}}) was formed by members of the Lads Society and Antipodean Resistance in late 2020. It is a Melbourne-based neo-Nazi group that claimed in October 2020 to be active in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and several regional cities, but which would not reveal how many members or associates the group has. It has vowed to bring about a "white revolution" and has openly described Indigenous Australians as "subhuman and monkeys".{{cite web | last=Paynter | first=Jack | title=Alarm at neo-Nazi group expansion across country | website=News.com.au | date=13 October 2020 | url=https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/alarm-as-neonazi-group-national-socialist-network-expands-to-adelaide/news-story/a68c9d4aa39ce51120c7ab8e3fdf7035 | access-date=27 March 2021}} They also engage in anti-Semitic and other racist behaviour. Its leader is Thomas Sewell, a convicted criminal,{{cite web | title=Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell's vile act outside court after sentence for assault on Nine Network security guard | website=Kalgoorlie Miner | date=23 January 2023| url=https://www.kalminer.com.au/news/neo-nazi-thomas-sewells-vile-act-outside-court-after-sentence-for-assault-on-nine-network-security-guard-c-9426564.amp | access-date=26 January 2023}} an ex-Australian army soldier and neo-Nazi,{{cite web | last1=McKenzie | first1=Nick | last2=Tozer | first2=Joel | title=National Socialist Network cross burning in Grampians sparks calls for group to be added to terror list | website=The Age | date=28 January 2021 | url=https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/we-do-not-need-to-wait-for-a-christchurch-grampians-cross-burning-spurs-call-for-action-20210128-p56xer.html | access-date=27 March 2021}} who is also leader of the Lads Society.

The group helped to organise a group of about 38 young white men who paraded Nazi symbolism and shouted offensive slogans in the Grampians region over the Australia Day weekend in January 2021 (see below).

In March 2021, Victoria Police's counter-terrorism command charged Sewell with affray, recklessly causing injury, and unlawful assault after he allegedly punched a security guard working for the Nine Network in Melbourne's Docklands. The alleged assault took place prior to the broadcast of an A Current Affair report about Sewell's organisation.{{cite news |date=3 March 2021 |title=Neo-Nazi group leader charged with assault of Channel Nine security guard |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/neo-nazi-group-leader-charged-over-alleged-assault-on-channel-nine-security-guard-20210303-p577c3.html |newspaper=The Age |location=Melbourne |access-date=3 March 2021}}

On 14 May 2021, Sewell was arrested by counter-terrorism police. He faces a number of charges, including an alleged armed robbery in Taggerty.{{cite web | website =ABC News | title =Australian neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell charged over alleged armed robbery | date=14 May 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-14/neo-nazi-thomas-sewell-arrested-melbourne/100140902 | access-date=14 May 2021}}

{{main|Sonnenkrieg Division}}

The Sonnenkrieg Division (Sonnenkrieg being German for "sun war") is a neo-Nazi group that is the United Kingdom-based branch of the Atomwaffen Division, and it maintains its links to the Atomwaffen Division by e-mail and online chat room discussion as well as by its use of similar names and its distribution of similar propaganda. It surfaced in December 2018, when it was revealed that members of the group had suggested on the group's Discord server that Prince Harry was a "race traitor" who should be shot for marrying Meghan Markle, who is of mixed race; that police officers should be raped and killed; and that white women who date non-whites should be hanged. Some suspected members are thought to have been involved in a previous neo-Nazi group, the System Resistance Network (one of the aliases of National Action), which was linked to various acts of racial violence and arson in the UK.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46292599 | work=BBC News | title=System Resistance Network: Neo-Nazi group 'should be illegal' | last1=Sanford | first1=Daniel | last2=DeSimone | first2=Daniel | date=5 December 2018 | access-date=3 August 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803075305/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46292599 | archive-date=3 August 2019 | url-status=live }}

On 2 March 2021, Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton accepted an ASIO recommendation to label the Sonnenkrieg Division a "terrorist organisation", citing their reach into Australia.{{cite web | url=https://www.qt.com.au/news/attack-on-channel-9-security-guard/4207550/ | title=Attack on Channel 9 security guard | work=Queensland Times | date=2 March 2021}} The group was officially proscribed in Australia on 22 March 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.dw.com/en/australia-bans-far-right-extremist-sonnenkrieg-division/a-56947377 | title=Australia bans far-right extremist Sonnenkrieg Division | work=Deutsche Welle | date=22 March 2021}}

{{main|The Base (hate group)}}

The Base is an American neo-Nazi white separatist hate group, which has been actively recruiting in Australia, Canada and other countries.{{cite web | last1=Mann | first1=Alex|first2=Kevin |last2=Nguyen | title=The Base Tapes: Inside a neo-Nazi recruitment drive in Australia | website=ABC News|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|series=Background Briefing | date=25 March 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-26/the-base-tapes-secret-recordings-australian-recruitment/13255994 | access-date=26 March 2021}} In late 2019 and early 2020, secret recordings were made of some of The Base's recruitment activities. The tapes include their attempts to recruit several Australians, including a 17-year-old teenager and a Western Australian man, Dean Smith, who ran for parliament for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. The group's founder, Rinaldo Nazzaro, known online as "Roman Wolf" and "Norman Spear", was personally involved in active recruitment. An Australian who went by the name of Volkskrieger was a key person in the recruitment drive, which focused on finding people with legal access to firearms and security licences. The group has been designated a terrorist entity by Canada{{Cite web|date=3 February 2018|title=Currently listed entities |url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx#540 |access-date=30 November 2021 |website=Public Safety Canada / Sécurité publique Canada}}{{Cite web|last=Government of Canada|first=Public Works and Government Services Canada|date=3 Feb 2021|title=Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 155, Number 2: Regulations Amending the Regulations Establishing a List of Entities|url=http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2021/2021-02-03-x2/html/sor-dors8-eng.html|access-date=2021-02-03|website=www.gazette.gc.ca}} and Australia.{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-24/neo-nazi-group-base-hezbollah-terrorist-listing/100646300 |title=Australia lists neo-Nazi organisation The Base, Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah as terrorist organisations |last=Belot |first=Henry |website=ABC News |date=24 November 2021 |access-date=30 November 2021}}

{{Main|True Blue Crew}}

The True Blue Crew (TBC) is an Australian militant white supremacist group.{{cite web |last1=Smee |first1=Ben |title='Quite frightening': the far-right fringe of the election campaign is mobilising |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/04/quite-frightening-the-far-right-fringe-of-the-election-campaign-is-mobilising |website=The Guardian|date=3 May 2019 |access-date=4 May 2019}} Members and supporters have been linked to right-wing terrorism and vigilantism, and members have been arrested with weapons and on terrorism-related charges. Experts who have studied the group say it appears to be "committed to violence".{{cite web|first1=Liam|last1=Mannix|first2=Nino|last2=Bucci|title=Dutton Turnbull Legitimising Anti Immigrant Vigilantes Say Experts|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/dutton-turnbull-legitimising-antiimmigrant-vigilantes-say-experts-20180115-h0ikfc.html|work=The Age|access-date=19 March 2017}} The True Blue Crew was formed in 2015 as a splinter group from the anti-Islamic Reclaim Australia group, along with a number of small far-right nationalist groups such as the United Patriots Front.{{cite book|first1=Judith|last1=Bessant|first2=Rys|last2=Farthing|first3=Rob|last3=Watts|title=The Precarious Generation: A Political Economy of Young People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKvODgAAQBAJ&pg=PT180|year=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-28917-3|page=180}}

In December 2019 a member of True Blue Crew, Phillip Galea, was convicted of terrorism charges relating to planned bombings of the Victorian Trades Hall and other left wing organisations in Melbourne.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/phillip-galea-jury-verdict-plot-to-blow-up-buildings/11755432|title=Far-right Australian terror conviction 'a canary in the coalmine', union leader warns|last1=Percy|first1=court reporter Karen|last2=staff|date=2019-12-05|website=ABC News|access-date=8 Feb 2020}}

Right Wing Resistance Australia, an openly white supremacist group{{cite web | title=Fear, loathing and factions | website=Hate Speech International|first=Øyvind |last=Strømmen| date=20 October 2015 | url=https://www.hate-speech.org/fear-loathing-and-fractioning/ | access-date=1 April 2021}} affiliated to the Right Wing Resistance group founded in New Zealand, was involved in the Bendigo mosque protests in 2015.{{cite web | title=Bendigo's anti-mosque protest: United Patriots Front nationalist group behind demonstration |website= ABC News|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=12 October 2015 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-12/who-was-behind-bendigos-anti-mosque-protests/6848468 | access-date=31 March 2021}}{{cite web | title=Aussies fighting in Ukraine may be charged | website=9News | date=1 May 2018 | url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/aussies-fighting-in-ukraine-may-be-charged/26dbec6f-7906-405f-8412-03d9baf76105 | access-date=31 March 2021}} An "official blog for the Australian chapter of Right Wing Resistance", headed "Right Wing Resistance Australia" and "RWR Australia", with entries published in August 2011, but with no further activity, still exists {{as of|lc=yes|April 2021}}. It self-describes as "an organized unified resistance movement against mass immigration, the Dilution of our European Culture and Pride, and the current multicultural agenda created by the current government networks designed to destroy our colonial rights and identity", and cites its function as "to recruit like minded individuals and groups into an organization of active men".{{cite web | title=Right Wing Resistance Australia | website=Right Wing Resistance Australia | date=18 August 2011 | url=http://rwraustralia.blogspot.com/2011/08/ | access-date=2 April 2021}} The group was thought to be "possibly defunct" in April 2019. It was reported that November to have chapters in Australia, Sweden and Scotland.{{cite web | title=Visitor makes Nazi salute at former deportation centre | website=VRT NWS: Flanders News | date=23 November 2019 | url=https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/11/23/visitor-makes-nazi-salute-at-former-deportation-centre/ | access-date=1 April 2021}}

The Australia First Party has a photo of three men holding a black flag saying Right Wing Resistance Australia, with "SC" and "14" on the left- and right-hand sides of it.{{cite web | title=Right Wing Resistance |website=Australia First Party | url=https://australiafirstparty.net/kaz-ross-alt-right-conspiracy-theory-morphs-into-entryism-claiming-hitler-youth-have-infiltrated-pitt-streets-nationals/right-wing-resistance/ | access-date=1 April 2021}} One of these men is Ethan Tilling.{{cite web | last=Rubinsztein-Dunlop | first=Sean | title=From Neo-Nazi to militant: The foreign fighters in Ukraine who Australia's laws won't stop - ABC News | website=ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | date=30 April 2018 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-01/foreign-fighters-return-to-australia-with-military-training/9696784 | access-date=1 April 2021}} He, along with other members of RWR, had gone to Ukraine to join forces fighting alongside the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine.{{cite web | last=McSwiney | first=Jordan | title=A Year On From Christchurch: The Far-Right Threat Is "Real And Growing" | website=GQ | date=4 March 2020 | url=https://www.gq.com.au/success/opinions/a-year-on-from-christchurch-the-farright-threat-is-real-and-growing/news-story/8958b952c245c301bd6899c6b883a271 | access-date=1 April 2021}}

Phillip Galea, former member of the True Blue Crew who was convicted of plotting terrorist attacks in December 2019, had been a member or supporter of Right Wing Resistance.{{cite web | last=Fleming | first=Andy | title=Galea in prison, Southern on TV: the state of the far right | website=Overland| date=25 November 2020 | url=https://overland.org.au/2020/11/where-the-far-right-in-australia-is-at/ | access-date=1 April 2021}}

The Patriotic Youth League (a wing of the Australia First Party),{{cite journal|title=A "Lunatic Fringe"? The Persistence of Right Wing Extremism in Australia|issn= 2334-3745 |date= April 2019|journal= Perspectives on Terrorism| volume= 13|issue =2|last=Campion | first=Kristy|url=https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/29338723/A_Lunatic_Fringe_POT.pdf |access-date=31 March 2021}}. was mainly active in the northern suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, and played a large role in the 2005 Cronulla riots. It disbanded in 2006, but was reincarnated as the Eureka Youth League in 2010.

ASIO monitors the Reclaim Australia group because of its potential for violence.{{cite news|last=Lewis|first=Duncan|title=Reclaim Australia in Asio's sights, intelligence chief tells senators|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/19/reclaim-australia-in-asios-sights-intelligence-chief-tells-senators|access-date=19 October 2016|work=The Guardian Australia|date=19 October 2016|ref=none}}

There is some cross-over between the two groups whose adherents call themselves Freemen on the Land (FOTL{{cite news|last=Stocken|first=Shelley|date=8 July 2016|title=The seriously weird beliefs of Freemen on the land|newspaper=News.com.au|publisher=Nationwide News Pty Ltd|location=Australia|url=https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/the-seriously-weird-beliefs-of-freemen-on-the-land/news-story/cd91441f8f406a48457d5450b0a264f9|access-date=5 April 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170509200511/http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/the-seriously-weird-beliefs-of-freemen-on-the-land/news-story/cd91441f8f406a48457d5450b0a264f9|archive-date=9 May 2017|url-status=live}}) and Sovereign Citizens (among other denominations), whose core beliefs may be broadly defined as "see[ing] the state as a corporation with no authority over free citizens".{{cite journal|url=https://skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Freemen-Internl-J-of-Cultic-Studies.pdf|title=Freemen, Sovereign Citizens, and the Challenge to Public Order in British Heritage Countries|first=Stephen A. |last=Kent|journal= International Journal of Cultic Studies|volume= 6|date=2015|access-date= 5 April 2021 }} The New South Wales Police Force identified "sovereign citizens" as a potential terrorist threat in 2015, estimating that there were about 300 sovereign citizens in the state at the time.{{cite news|last1= Thomas|first1= James|last2= McGregor|first2= Jeanavive|title= Sovereign citizens: Terrorism assessment warns of rising threat from anti-government extremists|url= https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-30/australias-sovereign-citizen-terrorism-threat/6981114|access-date= 4 April 2021|website= ABC News|publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date= 30 November 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151130183050/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-30/australias-sovereign-citizen-terrorism-threat/6981114|archive-date= 30 November 2015|url-status= live}} Sovereign Citizens from the US have undertaken speaking tours to and Australia, with some support among farmers struggling with drought and other hardships. A group called United Rights Australia (U R Australia{{cite web | title=U R Australia | website=Facebook | url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Cause/U-R-Australia-239654226107792/about/ | access-date=5 April 2021}}) has a Facebook presence, and there are other websites promulgating Freemen/Sovereign Citizen ideas.{{cite web | first=Jade |last=Hutchinson| title= The 'Right' Kind of Dogma | website=VOX - Pol | date=3 October 2018 | url=https://www.voxpol.eu/the-australian-new-right-movement-online-and-others/ | access-date=5 April 2021}}

Other potentially violent groups active in Australia include the Southern Cross Hammerskins and the Crazy Whiteboys (a violent anti-Asian, anti-Semitic and anti-African Australian group founded in 2009 in Melbourne). Far-right groups whose profiles have varied include Identity Australia, the Nationalist Australian Alternative, Australian Traditionalism, and the New National Action.

In August 2016, Phillip Galea was charged with several terrorist offences, the first Australian right-wing extremist to be charged with terrorism. Galea had conducted "surveillance" of "left-wing premises" and planned to carry out bombings. Explosive ingredients were found at his home. Galea had links with organisations such as Combat 18 (C18) and the United Patriots Front (UPF).{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/31/victorian-extremist-phillip-galea-planned-to-bomb-leftwing-premises-police-say|title=Victorian extremist Phillip Galea planned to bomb leftwing premises, police say|date=31 October 2016|agency=Australian Associated Press|newspaper=The Guardian| access-date=27 March 2021}} On 5 December 2019, a jury found Galea guilty of planning and preparing a terror attack.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-right-wing-extremist-guilty-of-plotting-terror-attack-20191205-p53h4b.html|title=Right-wing extremist yells to jury after guilty verdict for plotting terror attack|first=Caroline|last=Schelle|date=December 5, 2019|website=The Age}} He was sentenced to prison for 12 years in November 2020.{{cite web | last=Pearson | first=Erin | title=Right-wing extremist Phillip Galea jailed for 12 years on terror charges | website=The Age | date=20 November 2020 | url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/right-wing-extremist-phillip-galea-jailed-for-12-years-on-terror-charges-20201120-p56gfg.html | access-date=31 March 2021}}

In 2017 neo-Nazi Michael James Holt, aged 26, who had threatened to carry out a mass shooting attack and considered Westfield Tuggerah as a target, was convicted after pleading guilty to several firearm manufacture and possession charges. He had manufactured home-made guns, knuckle dusters and slingshots. He was regarded as a loner of low-intelligence with poor mental health who was easily radicalised.{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/white-supremacist-threatened-to-shoot-up-sydney-shopping-centre-20170120-gtvod0.html|title=White supremacist threatened to shoot up Central Coast shopping centre|first=Rachel|last=Olding|date=28 January 2017|via=The Sydney Morning Herald| access-date=27 March 2021}}

In April 2021, police raided the homes of several men associated with the National Socialist Network in Adelaide. One was arrested for the possession of an improvised explosive device as well as instructions for manufacturing explosives and prohibited and dangerous weapons, while a second was arrested for possession of extremist material. On the same day, Tom Sewell, the leader of NSN, said in a video that 15 men in his group had been targeted by South Australia Police (SAPOL), counter-terrorism and the Australian Federal Police.{{cite web | title=Improvised explosives, extremist material found as two men arrested in Adelaide | website=ABC News|publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=8 April 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/two-arrested-over-explosives-extremist-material-in-adelaide/100054938 | access-date=9 April 2021}}{{cite web | last=McGowan | first=Michael | title=Adelaide man arrested for allegedly possessing improvised explosive device in far-right raids | website=The Guardian | date=8 April 2021 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/08/adelaide-man-arrested-for-allegedly-possessing-improvised-explosive-device-in-far-right-raids | access-date=9 April 2021}}

On the Australia Day weekend in January 2021, the National Socialist Network, a new group created by members of the Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society under the latter's leader Thomas Sewell, were observed parading Nazi paraphernalia and harassing bystanders at several locations around the Grampians National Park in Victoria. One Halls Gap resident said: "There were 40 white males, many with skinheads, some chanting 'white power{{'"}}. They were reported to have chanted "sieg heil" and "white power", burnt a cross, and posted stickers saying "Australia For The White Man".

Concerned citizens reported them to the police, who confronted the group and later collected video evidence from security videos. Victoria Police's Counter Terrorism Command and ASIO were notified, and the incident was widely covered in the media. One antisemitism expert called for the group to be branded a terrorist group, saying, "We know that there is a direct link between incitement, between vilification … and shooting rampages that we saw not just in Christchurch, but in other places".{{cite web | last=Darling | first=Alexander | title=Calls for cross-burning neo-Nazis camped in The Grampians to be classified as terrorist group | website=ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | date=28 January 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-28/calls-grampians-far-right-group-labelled-terrorist-organisation/13098762 | access-date=5 April 2021}}

After a group of neo-Nazis had posted photographs of themselves giving fascist salutes outside the Adelaide Holocaust Museum, concerns were raised about the activities of groups such as the National Socialist Network in South Australia. On 2 September 2022, SA Minister for Multicultural Affairs Zoe Bettison said there would be a Parliamentary inquiry into "neo-Nazi symbols, the activities of extremist groups, discrimination faced by targeted groups and the prohibition on symbols in other states".{{cite web | last=Katsaras | first=Jason | title=Neo-Nazis prompt SA parliamentary inquiry | website=InDaily | date=2 September 2022 | url=https://indaily.com.au/news/2022/09/02/neo-nazis-prompt-sa-parliamentary-inquiry/ | access-date=2 September 2022}}

Federal laws against terrorism are contained in Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code Act 1995. For the majority of counter-terrorism laws, the Department of Home Affairs has policy responsibility and the Attorney-General's Department has administrative responsibility.{{cite web|url=https://www.ag.gov.au/national-security/australias-counter-terrorism-laws|website=Attorney-General's Department |publisher= Australian Government|title=Australia's counter-terrorism laws|access-date=6 April 2021}} 50px Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)] licence.

The states and territories of Australia also have a range of acts pertaining to terrorist offences, such as the Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act 2017 (NSW).{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2017-068|title= Terrorism (High Risk Offenders) Act 2017|website=NSW Legislation|publisher= New South Wales Government}}

• Australian nationalism
• Depends What You Mean by Extremist, a 2017 book by John Safran
• Far-right politics in Australia
• Islamophobia in Australia
• List of white nationalist organizations
• Racism in Australia

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal | last=Blackbourn | first=Jessie | title=Counterterrorism legislation and far-right terrorism in Australia and the United Kingdom | journal=Common Law World Review | publisher=SAGE Publications | date=3 March 2021 | volume=50 | issn=1473-7795 | doi=10.1177/1473779521989332 | page=147377952198933| s2cid=233784102 | doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|author1=Dean, Geoff |author2=Bell, Peter |author3=Vakhitova, Zarina |date=October 2016|title= Right-wing extremism in Australia: the rise of the new radical right|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307607137| journal= Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism|volume= 11|issue=2|pages=121–142|doi= 10.1080/18335330.2016.1231414|s2cid=151616050 }}
• {{cite web | title=Factsheet: Stormfront Downunder | website=Bridge Initiative |publisher=Georgetown University| date=19 November 2019 | url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-stormfront-downunder/|quote=Stormfront Downunder is a sub-forum of the global white supremacist online community Stormfront.org, which deals with "issues and pro-white activism for white nationalists in Australia and New Zealand.}}
• {{cite web | title=Far-Right Extremism | website=Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) | date=9 March 2021 | url=https://aijac.org.au/fact-sheets/far-right-extremism/ }}
• {{cite book | editor-last=Peucker | editor-first=Mario | editor-last2=Smith | editor-first2=Debra | title=The Far-Right in Contemporary Australia | publisher=Springer Singapore |chapter=Far-Right Contestation in Australia: Soldiers of Odin and True Blue Crew| year=2019 | isbn=978-981-13-8350-2 | doi= 10.1007/978-981-13-8351-9_5 |pages=101–125|first=Pam|last=Nilan| s2cid=199297174 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334461933|via =ResearchGate (by request)}}
• {{cite web | last=Smith | first=Rohan | title=Australia's uncomfortable truth about home grown terror starts small | website=news.com.au | date=8 February 2021 | url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/australias-uncomfortable-truth-about-home-grown-terror-starts-small/news-story/8f51de52266d40b3ea820bd5e0f7983b }}

Category:Antisemitism in Australia

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Australia

Category:Fascist movements

Category:Neo-Nazism in Australia

Category:Anti-Islam sentiment in Australia

Category:Terrorism in Australia

Category:White nationalism in Australia