Boredom and a sense of belonging are two factors fuelling Australia’s resurgence in neo-Nazi extremism, warn experts

Disengaged young men with no jobs and nothing to do during the pandemic are falling for neo-Nazi propaganda, say experts. But how serious is the threat?

Unemployment and boredom from coronavirus restrictions are fuelling an increase in neo-Nazi followers in South Australia, experts fear.

Young disaffected men, in particular, are being drawn into a sense of belonging through unfiltered social media sites propagating dangerous extremist views.

“The rise of Nazism is of enormous concern to us,” SA Jewish community leader Norman Schueler said.

“It has come particularly in the last year with people having time on their hands due to COVID. People have searched for things to do and they just follow.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry recorded 188 attacks and 143 threats nationwide to Jewish people and property in the year to September last year.

In SA, incidents have included anti-Semitic group National Socialist Network posting photos of members in disguise brandishing their supremacy flag in bush outings in September and October last year.

National Socialist Network members at a bush camp in the Grampians, Victoria

Mr Schueler said getting young men into jobs would help stem growth of neo-Nazism.

“People need to be occupied,” he said.

Flinders University researcher David Bright said attraction to extremism was comparable to other criminal behaviour.

“Research in Europe shows the type of people recruited to these groups are often young disenfranchised men who are looking for meaning,” he said.

“Some find that in stealing cars, others in joining extremist organisations.”

Professor Bright said right-wing extremism was an emerging threat in Australia but it was not well quantified.

“There is a pressing need for more academic research in this space,” he said.

Neo-Nazi graffiti scrawled on an abandoned Commonwealth building in NSW.

On Thursday, National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell, warned that his followers would only be strengthened by the arrest of two men in SA with alleged links to extremists.

A Munno Para man, 32, has been charged over possession of an alleged explosive device and a Surrey Downs man, 28, over alleged possession of extremist material.

They were bailed to appear in court in May and June respectively.

SA Police urged the public not to be alarmed and said they would “monitor any activity and take the necessary action”.

ASIO director general Mike Burgess last month said the pandemic had worsened the outlook for hate crimes.

“For those intent on violence, more time at home online meant more time in the echo chamber of the internet on the pathway to radicalisation,” he said.

“They were able to access hate-filled manifestos and attack instructions, without some of the usual circuit-breakers that contact with community provides.

“People often think we’re talking about skinheads with swastika tattoos and jackboots roaming the backstreets like extras from Romper Stomper, but it’s no longer that obvious.

“More often than not, they are young, well-educated, articulate, and middle class – and not easily identified.”

They were “overwhelmingly male”, with an average age of 25. He was particularly concerned about the number of 15 and 16-year-olds being radicalised.

All states and territories were affected.

“ASIO anticipates that the threat from this form of extremism will not diminish anytime soon – and may well grow,” he said.

“The online environment is a force multiplier for extremism; fertile ground for sharing ideology and spreading propaganda.”