‘Sickened, horrified and scared’: Call to treat neo-Nazis as terrorists

Australia’s peak Jewish representative body has called for laws to proscribe neo-Nazis as an extremist organisation, while the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has called for the National Socialist Network to be treated as domestic terrorists.

Peter Wertheim, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, said federal and state governments should respond to the rise of right-wing extremism in the same way that police deal with outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Wertheim said the National Socialist Network (NSN), led by Thomas Sewell, had not engaged in terrorist activities but had shown “a clear propensity for hate-fuelled thuggery and menace” that required additional police powers to combat.

“These would include powers to obtain control orders against members of designated organisations and persons who regularly associate with them, as well as enhanced powers of investigation, search and seizure, powers to issue take-down orders to ISPs and social media platform providers, and powers to obtain public safety orders and firearms control orders,” Wertheim said.

“The legislation should also include anti-consorting provisions making it an offence to associate with convicted offenders after receiving an official warning from a law enforcement agency.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has tracked the emergence of the NSN over the past five years under the leadership of Sewell, who previously gained notoriety through his involvement in other extreme right-wing groups such as the United Patriots Front and Lads Society.

“The cost of addressing extremist behaviour in the future will only increase if it is allowed to continue unchecked,” Wertheim said.

Premier Jacinta Allan has pointed to a strengthening of Victoria’s anti-vilification laws as policies that could capture the escalating behaviour of the NSN. Among the most significant changes is a new criminal offence for serious vilification, which can include jail time of up to five years. The new offence comes into effect later this month.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said Aboriginal people had been sickened, horrified and scared by the NSN’s recent actions, which she said amounted to domestic terror.

She said Sewell’s speech at the March for Australia protest in Melbourne on Sunday and an attack by NSN members after the march at Camp Sovereignty, a camp set up by Indigenous people in Kings Domain, could have constituted serious criminal offences under the strengthened anti-vilification laws, including inciting hatred and contempt and threatening physical harm and property damage on the basis of race.

“Unfortunately, however, these are not yet criminal offences because important sections of the Anti-Vilification Bill will not commence until 20 September, later this month. There is no good reason for these delays by the Allan government to commence critical protections for Aboriginal people and other marginalised communities,” the Yorta Yorta and Narrandjeri woman said in a statement.

“Premier Allan’s words are hollow – we hear nothing but empty promises for justice.

“We still expect these actions will be investigated as hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism.”

Emergency Services Minister Vicki Ward said the premier was doing fine after Sewell and fellow neo-Nazi Nathan Bull ambushed her press conference in West Melbourne on Tuesday, adding work was being done to determine how they had found the event.

“We’re not going to have anybody intimidate or try and prevent us from going out and doing our work,” Ward said.

Sewell claimed it was a coincidence that he came upon the premier’s press conference as he made his way to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, about a 13-minute walk from the West Melbourne park just outside the city.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin has repeated that police need stronger powers to clamp down on protest and move people on.

“How come they continually get away with this here in our state? How can we continue to have a position where neo-Nazis turn up to events, to protests, and get their voice out there at every occasion? Why haven’t we acted on that in the past?” he said on ABC Radio Melbourne.

Neo-Nazis also addressed the Sydney March for Australia rally on Sunday, though NSW has a permit system for protests.

Battin said the Greens were not comparable to neo-Nazis, but he took aim at the minor party’s position on Gaza and claimed without evidence that it had supported Hamas.

“The Greens aren’t [comparable to neo-Nazis]. But some of their beliefs, or the people they support, yes, some of their beliefs are as extreme as neo-Nazis,” he said.

Anasina Gray-Barberio, the Victorian Greens spokeswoman for multiculturalism and anti-racism, said the Liberals were a mess, were fuelling division and had no idea what they were talking about.

“As a migrant and a woman of colour, I feel the deep distress our multicultural, black and brown communities are feeling right now, and what’s needed is strong leadership that brings us together.”

A petition on Wednesday calling for Thomas Sewell, who is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand, to be deported had more than 60,000 signatures. However, the petition’s authenticity has been questioned and signatories have been urged to be cautious about providing personal information to the website involved.

To strip Sewell’s citizenship, the federal government would need to apply to a court. A section of the Citizenship Act allows such a move in extraordinary circumstances such as conduct that is “so serious and significant that it demonstrates that the person has repudiated their allegiance to Australia”.

There are currently no plans to do so for the prominent neo-Nazi, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Sewell “clearly hates modern Australia”.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he renounces his citizenship here anyway,” he said.

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