‘Confusing’: Pauline Hanson-backed ‘Put Australia First’ anti-immigration rallies see muted turnout
A far-right influencer has been booted from an anti-immigration rally after a controversial detail on his jacket triggered an ugly clash.
Pauline Hanson-backed rallies in Sydney and Melbourne have drawn a modest turnout, with critics blaming a “confusing” grab-bag of issues that included immigration reform that preserves “Australian values”, opposition to digital ID and net zero emissions targets.
Hundreds of people waving Australian flags attended the “Put Australia First” events over the weekend, with markedly lower crowds than the rival, neo-Nazi-affiliated “March for Australia” rallies on August 30 and October 19 which were marred by violent clashes with counter-protesters.
“It’s very small, because the message is confusing,” one X user commented on a picture of the Melbourne crowd. “If it was just about saying no to digital ID, the place would be packed. Something is very lost in asking people to agree to a laundry list of beliefs.”
Far-right online influencer Hugo Lennon, aka “auspill”, was removed from the Put Australia First event in Melbourne on Sunday after an ugly clash with journalist Avi Yemini.
“We don’t want Nazis here,” a man tells Lennon in footage shared by Rebel News.
“I’m not a Nazi, I’m an Australian nationalist,” he says.
“We don’t want Australian nationalists here,” the man replies.
Yemini then approaches and confronts Lennon over his Helly Hansen jacket, which has recently become the new uniform of choice for extremists due to its “HH” logo, seen as a nod to “Heil Hitler”.
“The Australian Diggers, our heroes, fought, bled and died defeating your dumb ideology,” Yemini tells him.
Helly Hansen is a Norwegian label owned by America’s Kontoor Brands. The company has not commented on the recent controversy around its logo and it is not suggested Helly Hansen endorses neo-Nazis wearing its products.
“I did sailing when I was younger, I’ve worn this brand for a long time, I think it’s a reach to say that there’s necessarily an association,” Lennon said afterwards. “It’s wrong to tarnish the whole thing because a few people decide to wear it.”
Pauline Hanson’s fiery speech at rally
In a fiery speech at the Melbourne rally, Ms Hanson declared she would personally deport any migrant to Australia who failed to give the nation their “undivided loyalty”.
The One Nation leader said she was not anti-migrant, and welcomed anyone who had “come here to find a new life for themselves and their families and future generations” — on one condition.
“I am not against anyone who wants to come here and give this country their undivided loyalty,” she said.
“If you don’t, I’ll be the first one to take you to the airport and put you on a plane.”
Protesters descended on Flagstaff Gardens on Sunday for the Put Australia First protest, with a pro-immigration, pro-trans counter protest also making its way through the city.
The two groups were kept separate by a large police presence, including members of the riot squad, and there were no violent clashes.
One man was arrested on Swanston Street after officers searched him and allegedly located knuckle dusters, the ABC reported.
Victoria Police said it was also investigating the alleged display of a Nazi symbol during the rallies, as well as an “unknown man who threw a can of drink at police officers, and other incidents involving offensive behaviour”.
Addressing the rally, Ms Hanson denied that she was “divisive”.
“I just want to pull people together to be proud of who we are and live in peace and harmony,” she said.
A counter protester could be heard shortly after shouting “go home, Pauline” before being moved along to jeers from the crowd.
Ms Hanson went on to decry being “shut down for having an opinion”.
“Don’t shut them down because they may differ form you as they did this week in parliament to me because I dare wear the burqa,” she said.
In a separate video from the address, Ms Hanson said, “Australian flags are flying with pride”.
“To see the people out there of different cultural backgrounds, I can see just by looking at you, we are all Australians together,” she said.
“I welcome those people that come here, that have come here to find a new life for themselves and their families and future generations.”
Ms Hanson was suspended from parliament last week after wearing a burqa to the Senate in a widely condemned stunt.
Infighting over immigration
Author Peter FitzSimons, commenting on a post promoting a rally this weekend, wrote, “Christ, this is TIRED.”
“So tired that most of the supporters must have slept in,” another user wrote, sharing an aerial photo of the small Sydney crowd that had critics branding the event a “flop”.
The protests in the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs come amid growing infighting on the Australian right over immigration — Put Australia First has the support of One Nation and is led by Melbourne activist Monica Smit, founder of the anti-Covid lockdown Reignite Democracy Australia (RDA) lobby group.
Put Australia First is also supported by lobby group Advance Australia, 2GB host Ben Fordham, content creator Rukshan Fernando, Family First national director Lyle Shelton and conservative commentator Kobie Thatcher.
“We broadened the issue … so we’ve got three main points, which is immigration reform, the second one is freedom from an enforced digital ID, and affordable energy,” Ms Smit said in an interview with Fordham last week.
“So broadening the topic means that more people can get involved, more politicians can support it, and also the messaging is a lot more mainstream.”
Fordham said there were “a lot of people who have genuine concerns about issues including mass immigration and they don’t want to be associated with neo-Nazis”.
Speaking at the Sydney rally, Mr Shelton said “none of us are anti-migrants, but no one asked us if we wanted more than one million people in three years, and still coming”.
“We’ve got a problem with assimilation,” he said.
“When we have Muslim sheiks … after October 7 saying ‘I’m elated, I’m excited’ after Jews were massacred and raped, and Muslim Australians standing around yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’, that is un-Australian. We need assimilation in this country. All people of all colour, all race, religion are welcome, but they have to be here and support Australian values. It’s un-Australian to support terrorism.”
March For Australia, meanwhile is fronted by Bec Walker — who goes by the online handle Bec Freedom — and has the backing of the National Socialist Network (NSN), whose members have been involved in numerous brawls at previous events.
Ms Walker was criticised in the lead-up to August 31 after saying in leaked audio that “we need to see violence” similar to the 2005 Cronulla Riots — comments she apologised for but said were taken “out of context”.
Despite March for Australia claiming it was not affiliated with the NSN, its leader Thomas Sewell spoke at the Melbourne rally on August 31 and other members have appeared prominently at the events.
Ms Walker has also made a number of public comments supporting the NSN, while footage from the August rally in Sydney emerged last month showing her interacting with a key NSN member, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
“To mislead the audience and have an ‘open mic’ where three neo-Nazis are miced up ready to go with cameras on them, that’s misleading the public,” Ms Smit told Fordham.
She added “some of the chanting at the last rallies was really over the top”.
“They were saying things like ‘send them home’ or ‘shut the gate’,” she said.
“We all have colleagues, friends, family even who are legal immigrants who contribute to society. It’s ridiculous to think that we can send them back. We don’t want to send them back, we just want some reasonable reform, we want some good discussion in parliament, and we just want Australians to be put first. So our whole messaging is a lot more palatable to the mainstream Australian.”
Nationals float ‘values test’ visa
On Sunday, Nationals leader David Littleproud embraced the idea of a values test for temporary visa holders.
In an interview published on Sunday, opposition home affairs spokesman Jonathan Duniam revealed he and immigration spokesman Paul Scarr were mulling testing anyone coming into the country to ensure “they ascribe to the values we feel are important in this country”.
“I don’t think it hurts,” Mr Littleproud told the ABC.
“I think it actually adds to the value and demonstrates the value of citizenship in this country, and what our forefathers have built, and the values and principles of freedom of speech.”
— with NewsWire
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Originally published as ‘Confusing’: Pauline Hanson-backed ‘Put Australia First’ anti-immigration rallies see muted turnout
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