Latest news with #NSN
7NEWS
29-05-2025
- 7NEWS
New police twist as neo-Nazi leader has symbol charge dropped in court
National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell has had a criminal charge dropped over his neo-Nazi group's Australia Day weekend protest. Melbourne resident Sewell, 31, was among 17 NSN members arrested after marching in Adelaide in January. On Thursday, a charge of using a Nazi symbol was withdrawn in his criminal case in the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Sewell remains charged with one count of loitering. Since the Australia day arrest, Sewell has since claimed that police wanted to kill members of his neo-Nazi group. He has published audio online that allegedly captures SAPOL officers on Australia Day joking about shooting the neo-Nazi group. 'I'm happy to shoot them,' one person said. 'Happy to?' another person asked. 'I'm happy to shoot them' the first person answered. Sewell is scheduled to return to court next week.
SBS Australia
03-05-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Police investigating 'disgusting' display of 'no black', 'no Muslim' votes banners
Victoria Police is investigating after several groups dressed in all black were seen on overpasses along Melbourne's Monash Freeway holding racist and Islamophobic banners. Police said they had been alerted to offensive slogans being displayed at several locations along the freeway just after 9.30am on Saturday — the day of . A witness provided SBS News photos of several of the banners which read: "No black votes should count; No Muslim votes should count; and Only Aussie votes should count. Only Australian citizens aged 18 and over can vote in state and federal elections. Former Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers in 2019 said voter fraud in Australia is negligible. He told a parliamentary committee in 2019 that it was "by and large a very small problem". The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, described the scenes as "disgusting". "Imagine having a little Asian child [or] a Muslim child in the back of a seat just driving with your family on a Saturday morning, and then you just see this racism," the witness, who is an Australian Muslim, told SBS News. "It's just disturbing." The witness said she saw about 30 people spread across three overpasses. A Victoria Police spokesperson told SBS News in a statement: "Police have been told people were seen congregating on several foot and vehicle overpass bridges in the vicinity of Huntingdale Road. "It is believed the people involved, who were described as wearing all black and face coverings, were holding banners which displayed offensive slogans." An alt-right media outlet that promotes white supremacist ideologies published a story on the demonstration, reporting that two dozen members of neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network (NSN), had been holding the signs. The article quoted NSN figure Joel Davis, but he did not make any statement as to whether he or the NSN were involved. An account appearing to belong to Davis shared the article on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Victoria Police could not confirm whether the NSN was responsible, telling SBS News its investigation was ongoing. On Thursday, Victoria Police said it was investigating flyers authorised by the NSN that were delivered to Jewish households in Melbourne. In the past week, some other flyers titled "Flood Australia with Indians" were also seen, which were "authorised by Joel Davis, National Socialist Network". Visit the to access articles, podcasts and videos from SBS News, NITV and our teams covering more than 60 languages.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Nazis are quietly forming a political party to try to get around the law
The prominent neo-Nazi group that disrupted Anzac Day commemorations is recruiting members to form a new political party, as part of a plan to exploit loopholes in recent anti-vilification laws – and run candidates in the next federal election. White supremacist leader Thomas Sewell is under strict bail conditions barring him from contacting other members of his neo-Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN), which has seen its websites and social media channels taken down after Sewell and other members were arrested over an Australia Day rally in Adelaide. Yet The Age can reveal the group has quietly launched a new website, signed by founder Sewell, and is directing people through its remaining Telegram channels to join the NSN's new aspiring political party. The group needs to reach 1500 verified members before it can apply to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to form an official federal party, which it hopes to do within a year. (The bar for becoming a state party is even lower, at 500 members needed in Victoria.) The stunt at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on Friday, when neo-Nazis including Jacob Hersant booed in the darkness of an Anzac dawn service, was part of a co-ordinated push to rebrand nationally as 'everyday Australians' fed up with so-called 'woke' politics and so funnel more recruits into their extreme ideologies. That plan, which is revealed in online records and Sewell's videos for followers, could now be in jeopardy, as bipartisan backlash to the Shrine stunt and other disruptions by fringe agitators this election campaign threatens to build into a national crackdown on far-right extremism. But Nazi watchers who track the group online, such as The White Rose Society, call their political ambitions serious and frightening. Even if they don't ever get a candidate up at the ballot box, the tactic could help the neo-Nazi group gain false legitimacy as they push further into right-wing politics – and evade crackdowns by authorities. Extremism expert Josh Roose said Australian neo-Nazis had been successful, for their relatively small numbers, in eclipsing other groups in the far right, including in recent stunts during the election. 'Now they're following in the footsteps of Hitler [into politics], though they have zero chance of actually getting elected, but they'll exploit every loophole they can.'
The Age
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Nazis are quietly forming a political party to try to get around the law
The prominent neo-Nazi group that disrupted Anzac Day commemorations is recruiting members to form a new political party, as part of a plan to exploit loopholes in recent anti-vilification laws – and run candidates in the next federal election. White supremacist leader Thomas Sewell is under strict bail conditions barring him from contacting other members of his neo-Nazi National Socialist Network (NSN), which has seen its websites and social media channels taken down after Sewell and other members were arrested over an Australia Day rally in Adelaide. Yet The Age can reveal the group has quietly launched a new website, signed by founder Sewell, and is directing people through its remaining Telegram channels to join the NSN's new aspiring political party. The group needs to reach 1500 verified members before it can apply to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to form an official federal party, which it hopes to do within a year. (The bar for becoming a state party is even lower, at 500 members needed in Victoria.) The stunt at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on Friday, when neo-Nazis including Jacob Hersant booed in the darkness of an Anzac dawn service, was part of a co-ordinated push to rebrand nationally as 'everyday Australians' fed up with so-called 'woke' politics and so funnel more recruits into their extreme ideologies. That plan, which is revealed in online records and Sewell's videos for followers, could now be in jeopardy, as bipartisan backlash to the Shrine stunt and other disruptions by fringe agitators this election campaign threatens to build into a national crackdown on far-right extremism. But Nazi watchers who track the group online, such as The White Rose Society, call their political ambitions serious and frightening. Even if they don't ever get a candidate up at the ballot box, the tactic could help the neo-Nazi group gain false legitimacy as they push further into right-wing politics – and evade crackdowns by authorities. Extremism expert Josh Roose said Australian neo-Nazis had been successful, for their relatively small numbers, in eclipsing other groups in the far right, including in recent stunts during the election. 'Now they're following in the footsteps of Hitler [into politics], though they have zero chance of actually getting elected, but they'll exploit every loophole they can.'
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Race war': Aussie neo-Nazis' shock move
National Socialist Network (NSN) leaders Thomas Sewell and Joel Davis are preparing to form a new political party. The shock move to legitimise neo-Nazi political expression was confirmed on Thursday at Adelaide Magistrates Court, where the pair claimed to be victims of political persecution in relation to an NSN Australia Day rally. Police arrested and charged 16 people with loitering and displaying Nazi symbols after some 40 men stormed the CBD that day, chanting 'white man fight back' and singing 'Waltzing Matilda'. Charges against some have since been withdrawn. Sewell is charged with loitering and display a Nazi symbol, while Davis is charged with two counts of use a Nazi symbol. On Thursday, defence lawyer Matthew Hopkins confirmed Davis and Sewell would contest the allegations and argued the alleged offences impinged on their implied constitutional rights to political expression. 'They do intend to form a political party and it would be a radical departure in Australian constitutional jurisprudence for an ideology to be outlawed,' he said. 'And that's really where we are going with this.' To register a new political party, Sewell and Davis will have to collect 1500 signatures, according to the Australian Electoral Commission's party registration guide. New non-parliamentary parties must submit a written constitution, submit a party name, state the supporting applicants, submit a $500 application fee and provide a membership list of between 1500 and 1650 members. Mr Hopkins said the NSN had been 'targeted' by the police and suggested the NSN march was a form of political expression comparable to Survival Day rallies. 'There were numerous demonstrations happening in Adelaide,' he said. 'And it seems to be the case where it is this particular organisation that has been targeted as a special group. 'They were carrying the Australian flag, they were at no stage anywhere near those protests. 'One of them was called anti-Australia Day, one was called Invasion Day. 'You have polarising ideologies here that are in conflict and as part of our constitutional representative government we allow for that and that is part of the reason why the right to political communication is there, so that there is an outlet for legitimate displays of an ideology.' Sewell and Davis, who appeared in court via telephone from Victoria, are avowed fascists and have expressed admiration for German dictator Adolf Hitler. Hitler led the Nazi war machine in the 1930s and 1940s and orchestrated the extermination of some six millions Jews across Europe. Sewell's alleged display offence relates to a patch worn on his arm sleeve at the rally. It shows a four-arrow symbol pointing inward. Prosecutor Phoebe Foster-Richardson confirmed that while it was not a swastika, she would argue it was a fascist symbol outlawed under South Australian legislation. The state parliament outlawed the display of Nazi symbols or salutes following a sharp and sudden increase in anti-Semitic expression across the country after the terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The law came into effect in December 2024. Mr Hopkins argued the legislation was fundamentally authoritarian and 'fascist' by seeking to ban a political ideology. Sewell and Davis are both on bail and prohibited from communicating with or contacting other NSN members from the march. Mr Hopkins objected to the non-communication and non-contact clauses in the bail agreement, arguing they were not proportionate to the alleged offending and infringed on his clients' political rights. He also said there was 'zero chance' of a successful prosecution. Ms Foster-Richardson rejected that assertion and maintained the bail conditions were justified given the risks of potential reoffending. She also disputed the argument that Sewell and Davis' political rights had been abrogated, noting the pair continued to widely disseminate their fascist views on open-source channels. Magistrate Luke Davis rejected Mr Hopkins' application to alter the conditions and said there was 'a degree of fake innocence' to Sewell and Davis' claims of persecution. He acknowledged there were 'live issues' for the defence and prosecution to battle over at trial. The matter was listed for pre-trial conference on May 29. Speaking outside court after the hearing, Mr Hopkins said it was an 'abomination' that legislation would try to ban or criminalise a 'legitimate political ideology'. 'We have a political system in this country where people are able to express a political ideology, and if you don't like it, so be it,' he said. When pressed whether Sewell and Davis embodied far-right extremism, Mr Hopkins said there was a 'spectrum of political discourse' in the country. 'Certainly, there are organisations on the Right and there are organisations on the Left,' he said. 'The Left think the Right are extreme, the Right think the Left are extreme, that's essentially what we are facing here.' At an earlier court appearance, police alleged the NSN was preparing for a 'race war' and hoped to usher in a white supremacist ethnostate. The court was told the men said they wore black outfits to 'represent the ideal of national socialism' and eliminate their individual identities.
