Latest news with #MarchforAustralia
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Blunt warning issued to demonstrators planning to take part in anti-immigration rallies: 'No place in Australia'
Supporters of an anti-immigration rally are being warned not to attend the massive protest, with politicians branding the movement as having 'no place' in Australia. March for Australia is organising the protests that will take place on August 31 in several capital cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide. The organisers, who described themselves as a 'grassroots coalition of nationalists, patriots and everyday Australians', have the aim of gathering likeminded people to demand an end to mass immigration. 'For years, Australia's unity and shared values have been eroded by policies and movements that divide us,' the March for Australia website states. 'Our streets have seen growing displays of anti-Australian hatred, foreign conflicts, and disintegrating trust, whilst mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together.' Much of the March for Australia website touts anti-migrant rhetoric, which has drawn the support of people with far-right political views who are promoting the rally on social media. 'Australia is changing in ways most of us never agreed to. People are waking up to a country they barely recognise,' the website reads. 'Endless migration, weak leadership, and political cowardice have brought us here, and it's time to put a stop to it.' Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly claimed the protest had 'no place in modern Australia'. Dr Aly, who was born in Egypt and migrated to Australia when she was two years old, warned the rally would not intimidate the multicultural communities in the country. 'Multiculturalism is an integral and valued part of our national identity,' Dr Aly told Newswire. 'We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities. We will not be intimidated. 'This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia.' Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke branded the protest as un-Australian, saying it would only 'undermine' the country's unity. 'There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion,' Burke said. 'We stand with modern Australia against these rallies - nothing could be less Australian.' Locations for the protests have yet to be confirmed, however, the rallies are being promoted across social media. Supporters have shared a flyer online saying 'it's time to take our country back', 'defend our culture' and 'stop mass migration now'. Daily Mail contacted state and territory police forces about the March for Australia rallies and were told most were yet to be informed about the protests. NSW and Queensland Police said they had not received a Notice of Intention to hold a public assembly, while WA and Victoria have also asked organisers to engage with officers. An SA Police spokesman said they are liaising with the people behind the protests to ensure a peaceful march, and ACT Police said the force is aware of planned protest activity later this month and will respond to any activity appropriately. A March for Australia spokesman told Daily Mail it has not finalised locations and so filing permits is not yet workable. 'Locations are to be finalised on the 15th of August, at which point permits will be able to be organised. Submission time requirements for most permits are incredibly short, ranging from one week to a couple of days before the event.' Little is known about the people behind the group, but they have been forced to clarify that they are not affiliated with neo-Nazis. Thomas Sewell, an alleged member of neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network (NSN), posted on Telegram about a similar event, seemingly claiming to be behind it. In the image for the post, it promised a protest on August 31 at midday in the same cities with the declaration: 'It's time to take our country back.' While still remaining relatively anonymous, March for Australia made it clear they are 'not members of, nor acting on behalf of, any other group', they told Daily Mail. 'We are not associated with their organisation. 'Additional claims that we are associated with Israeli, Jewish, or Palestinian movements or organisations are also unfounded and untrue.' In a lengthy post shared on Instagram, March for Australia organisers also rejected any association with the alt-right 'National Socialist Network, White Australia, or Thomas Sewell Uncensored'. The organisers added those behind the rally come from a 'diverse range of political backgrounds'. It comes just three weeks after a pro-Palestine rally shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge and brought the CBD to a standstill. NSW Police admitted they were caught off guard when the 90,000-strong crowd turned out for the 'March for Humanity' rally on August 3. Authorities said if there had been a crowd crush, the event might have been 'catastrophic'. The demonstrators highlighted what the United Nations has described as 'worsening famine conditions' in Gaza and called for peace between Palestine and Israel, increased sanctions on Israel and the delivery of urgent aid to Gaza.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
If you dogwhistle it, neo-Nazis will come: the ‘March for Australia' – and the problems reporting it pose for media
It can be a wicked problem, working out how to report on, for example, potentially racist marches. Do you refuse to give them airtime? Mention them but be sure not to glorify them? How much detail do you include? There are plans under way for a 'March for Australia' that is taking place (according to one of the anonymous organisers – multiple people claim to be in charge) on 31 August. Sydney's Daily Telegraph strongly featured the flyer for the event, with the date and time and the March's slogans at the top of the story. worried that the protest had sparked a 'divisive debate' (as opposed to itself being divisive). Both also pointed out racist links. The original flyer talked about taking Australia 'back', although it didn't clarify to where. And it demanded 'no foreign flags', although the background showed the union jack. Comments on the social media pages of people reposting details about the march quickly filled up with racist garbage and conspiracy theories. The neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell described it as 'our' public rally in a post to Telegram, calling for 'White Australians' to assemble 'against the traitors and foreigners' – even as some of the organisers denied any Nazi connections. Australia's pledge to recognise a Palestinian state was labelled many things. Pointless symbolism. Important symbolism. A move that did not go far enough. A move that would enrage Donald Trump and Israel and please Hamas. And myriad tensions boiled over on Thursday with (some slightly confusing) reports that Hamas had welcomed the move, despite the Australian government's pledge that there would be no role for Hamas in a future Palestine state. Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a free newsletter Among the febrile news yarns and think pieces about the significance of Australia's move, particularly in the News Corp papers, there was little and sometimes no mention of the group Australia has joined. It came down to to put it in perspective – Australia will join about 150 other nations in pledging to recognise a Palestinian state. Israel has now killed more than 190 media workers and journalists in Palestine, the Committee to Protect Journalists says, with an Al Jazeera team the latest victims. Al Jazeera puts the number at closer to 270. Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues were killed by an Israeli airstrike as they sat in a journalists' tent near a hospital in Gaza City. On Thursday the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance released a video of more than 100 of its members reading the names of those killed. The MEAA media federal president, Michael Slezak, said journalists were 'reporting on the horrors being inflicted on the civilians of Gaza … making it the most dangerous place on Earth to be a journalist'. The Israel Defense Forces bragged of the kill, announcing it on social media with bullseye emoji. They claimed al-Sharif was Hamas, with scant evidence. The Committee to Protect Journalists and al-Sharif himself had anticipated there would be retaliation for his reporting on starvation in Gaza. 'If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,' he said. Killing journalists is a war crime and this attack was another strike on the flow of information from Gaza. Meanwhile, Sky News reckons it has found the real threat to press freedom. On Thursday The Australian published a piece about Victoria's Respectful Relationships curriculum, which includes information about transgender issues. The piece referred to a terrifying-sounding 'pipeline' from schools to transgender clinics. The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, immediately hit back. 'Transgender kids are 15 times more likely to kill themselves … supporting those kids and supporting those families should be a priority because it's the right thing to do,' she said. 'What's not right is this ongoing campaign to tear down programs that are about strengthening kids' resilience, it's about preventing bullying, about protecting kids against future harm, that's what needs to stop.' She made it clear that she was referring to The Australian's 'ongoing campaign' and said the pipeline notion was 'disgraceful' and 'nonsense'. The Australian responded with a fairly straight news story about her comments. Sky News, though, was having none of it. Her 'disturbing attack on free and open reporting' was in a 'heated defence of a radical push of transgender ideology to five-year-olds', it said. It was a 'rant', a 'full-throttled attack'. Sky quoted Bella d'Abrera, the director of the foundations of western civilisation program at the Institute of Public Affairs, decrying 'the indoctrination of children with fringe theories about sex and gender'. The chilling effect of Australia's defamation laws may have thawed somewhat with a landmark ruling on the high-profile orthopaedic surgeon Munjed Al Muderis's case. Sign up to Weekly Beast Amanda Meade's weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday after newsletter promotion A joint investigation by Nine newspapers and 60 Minutes aimed to counterbalance years of extensive positive media about the surgeon (including in Guardian Australia) with claims from his patients about negligent post-operative care and more. Al Muderis launched a defamation case. The federal court dismissed it last Friday (he will reportedly appeal) in what has been called a significant test of a new public interest defence added to defamation laws in 2021. The long-running trial's dismissal would have been a huge relief for many – not least for the investigative journalist Charlotte Grieve. Just three days after the decision the press release for her book on the case dropped. The writer and host of Radio Atlantic Hanna Roisin, in Sydney for Friday's Women in Media conference, says she wants to give people a visceral sense of how things have changed for women and for the media more broadly in the Trump 2.0 era. 'The rules don't apply any more,' she says. 'We are flooded with preposterous lies all the time. 'We are swimming against a tide that is bigger than we are.' That means going back to basics. 'Our job is to record the truth using the tools we have as journalists,' she says. She sees some hope. For a while, she says, people felt they simply couldn't deal with covering a second Trump term. 'It's very disorienting,' she says. 'But I think people are finding their energy, especially women journalists. They're finding their sources, they're having fun with it.' Two weeks after he unveiled his vision for staff, the ABC's managing director invited a handful of media reporters to the Ultimo boardroom for a briefing on how he plans to lead the ABC for the next five years. One of them was Guardian Australia's media correspondent, Amanda Meade. She reports that if there was a message Hugh Marks wanted to send it was that the ABC is a no-nonsense organisation focused on quality programming. Under this MD the public broadcaster won't focus on innovation and platforms. It's all about the content. Even the lunch offered was pared down, befitting a cash-strapped corporation, with assorted wraps and salads in plastic cups provided to the journos and his inner circle. The former Nine Entertainment chief wants the ABC to be easier to work with when it comes to co-productions, with Marks admitting it is not the broadcaster of choice for many producers. It goes without saying that top of his wishlist is a big global hit like Bluey, only he wants to retain the distribution rights this time, so the ABC can make some money. The BBC got the best part of the Bluey deal, leaving Aunty nothing but the cultural cachet and the Australian broadcast rights. A franchise like MasterChef was mentioned and, before the public broadcaster purists turn their noses up, remember that the original was a BBC show that became a hugely successful global export. Another new face at ABC News will be Clare Armstrong will jump ship from News Corp to become its chief digital political correspondent later this year. Armstrong is the national political editor of the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Advertiser and the Courier-Mail. She's based in Canberra and is a regular on Insiders. She'll replace Jacob Greber, who moved to 7.30 as political editor when Laura Tingle became the ABC's global affairs editor. Armstrong said she was excited about her new role. 'Every decision in Canberra has a ripple effect across the country and I'm looking forward to breaking stories and providing insight and analysis on the issues that matter most to Australians,' she said in a statement from the ABC. The news director, Justin Stevens, called Armstrong a 'hugely talented and highly experienced political journalist and an acute analyst of national politics with a track record of breaking news'. She's well respected, which will hopefully shield her from any bitterness at News Corp, which isn't always the biggest fan of Aunty.
West Australian
4 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
August 31 protests vowing to ‘take our country back' have no place in Australia, leading ministers say
So-called Australia First protests being planned across capital cities in Australia have 'no place,' with Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly vowing that multicultural Aussies 'will not be intimidated'. Flyers for rallies saying 'it's time to take our country back', 'defend our culture' and 'stop mass migration now' have gone viral on social media. A website linked to the march suggests events will be held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide. It says: 'Australia is changing in ways most of us never agreed to. People are waking up to a country they barely recognise. Endless migration, weak leadership, and political cowardice have brought us here, and it's time to put a stop to it.' The event is being promoted by far-right users on social media and much of the rhetoric on the March for Australia site is anti-migrant, claiming 'mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together'. Dr Aly, who was born in Egypt before immigrating to Australia at just two years old, said movements grounded in racism had 'no place in modern Australia'. She told NewsWire: 'Multiculturalism is an integral and valued part of our national identity. 'We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities. We will not be intimidated. 'This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia.' Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Rally For Australia was un-Australian. 'There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion,' he said. 'We stand with modern Australia against these rallies - nothing could be less Australian.' More than eight million people living in Australia at the time of the last census were born overseas, but the proportion of those born overseas was 31.5 per cent, less than the 32.4 per cent recorded in 1891, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While locations for the protests have yet to be shared, the protests are being promoted through social media. In lengthy posts shared through the March for Australia Instagram page, organisers have rejected associations with the alt-right 'National Socialist Network, White Australia, or Thomas Sewell Uncensored,' adding that organisers come from a 'diverse range of political backgrounds'.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
‘No place': Viral protest plans slammed
So-called Australia First protests being planned across capital cities in Australia have 'no place,' with Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly vowing that multicultural Aussies 'will not be intimidated'. Flyers for rallies saying 'it's time to take our country back', 'defend our culture' and 'stop mass migration now' have gone viral on social media. A website linked to the march suggests events will be held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide. The protests are planned for capital cities in Australia. Source: Supplied Credit: Supplied It says: 'Australia is changing in ways most of us never agreed to. People are waking up to a country they barely recognise. Endless migration, weak leadership, and political cowardice have brought us here, and it's time to put a stop to it.' The event is being promoted by far-right users on social media and much of the rhetoric on the March for Australia site is anti-migrant, claiming 'mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together'. Dr Aly, who was born in Egypt before immigrating to Australia at just two years old, said movements grounded in racism had 'no place in modern Australia'. She told NewsWire: 'Multiculturalism is an integral and valued part of our national identity. 'We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities. We will not be intimidated. 'This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia.' The protests come after dozens marched in Melbourne with a 'White Man Fight Back' sign. TikTok Credit: Supplied The pop-up protest at 1am on a Saturday was labelled a 'chilling trailer for ... full-length horror' TikTok Credit: Supplied Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the Rally For Australia was un-Australian. 'There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion,' he said. 'We stand with modern Australia against these rallies - nothing could be less Australian.' More than eight million people living in Australia at the time of the last census were born overseas, but the proportion of those born overseas was 31.5 per cent, less than the 32.4 per cent recorded in 1891, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While locations for the protests have yet to be shared, the protests are being promoted through social media. In lengthy posts shared through the March for Australia Instagram page, organisers have rejected associations with the alt-right 'National Socialist Network, White Australia, or Thomas Sewell Uncensored,' adding that organisers come from a 'diverse range of political backgrounds'.
Sky News AU
7 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
'Racist, bigoted': Abbie Chatfield joins other influencers unleashing on upcoming mass immigration protests across Australia
Numerous left wing social media activists, including Abbie Chatfield and Hannah Ferguson, have lashed out at upcoming anti-mass immigration protests, with Ms Chatfield labelling them 'racist, bigoted" and "disgusting." In the past week a range of flyers have been circulated on social media calling for people to take part in 'Australia first' protests on August 31 in every capital city. One poster said 'Australia, it's time to rise' while others displayed slogans including 'Australia first, end mass migration for our children' and 'it's time to take our country back.' Promotional posters did not disclose which group was organising the rallies; however, a 'March for Australia' website has since been established stating that 'Australia is changing in ways most of us never agreed to.' 'People are waking up to a country they barely recognise. Endless migration, weak leadership, and political cowardice have brought us here, and it's time to put a stop to it,' the website said. The poster insisted the 'event is peaceful and is not intended to incite hate or violence." When asked about the planned rallies on Monday NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said police were aware of the events and were closely following the situation. A spokeswoman for Ms Catley said in a statement to the Daily Telegraph that 'based on the information currently available, police are not aware of who this group is or what they are proposing.' She added that 'no Form 1', which is a legal document that protest organisers must submit to the police notifying them of a planned demonstration, had been submitted for August 31. 'When a Form 1 is submitted, it will be assessed like any other gathering and NSW Police will work with the organisers once that process is complete,' the spokeswoman added. Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and ACT Police also confirmed they were aware of the planned rallies and that no notice of motion had been received, according to The group said it would hold simultaneous rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra and called on volunteers to enlist and attendees to register for updates. The website initially said it would hold its Sydney rally at Speaker's Corner across from the NSW Art Gallery and its Melbourne demonstration at the State Library - however those details have since been removed and now state that locations are 'to be confirmed.' In a recent Instagram post the organisers claimed they were a 'grassroots' movement and that various groups were attempting to take ownership of the protests and attach their own agenda to the demonstrations. 'We wish to make it clear: the organisers are not members of, nor acting on behalf of, any other group. In particular, recent claims by Thomas Sewell of White Australia are not reflective of the organisers nor the politics of March For Australia,' the post read. The official poster urged attendants to 'bring your flag' yet added 'it doesn't matter which Australian flag you bring, as long as it represents Australia.' NSW Premier Chris Minns was asked about the demonstrations on Monday and seemed unfamiliar with the topic, asking 'can someone help me out, is that the Nazi group in Melbourne?' 'It's the last thing we need in a city like Sydney, it's a beautiful place to live one of the best things about Sydney no matter where you come from you live together in peace together,' Mr Minns said. 'It seems deplorable you want to bring that division to the streets of Sydney; it's the last thing we need in Sydney and you are not welcome." Pro-Palestine protestors are planning to hold nationwide demonstrations on August 24 and march across Brisbane's Story Bridge a week before the March for Australia is due to be held
