Adelaide neo-Nazi group monitored over Hitler posts and suburban propaganda
SA police are monitoring a local neo-Nazi group, which celebrates Adolf Hitler and claims to be “building a physical and politicised white Australian network”.
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A white supremacist group which claims to be “building a physical and politicised” movement is being monitored by police as racist propaganda is distributed among Adelaide suburbs.
Residents in several suburbs have reported receiving material from neo-Nazi group European Australia Movement in their letterboxes.
The group is part of a wider network of alleged white supremacist groups in South Australia, including the National Socialist Network and SA Men’s Health Club – whose leadership group member Jackson Pay has been evicted by his grandmother as he faces terrorism charges.
The racist material, which is headlined “calling all white Australians,” says the organisation’s mission is “the preservation and advancement of white people in Australia”.
The organisation claims to be “building a network of white Australians across every city, suburb and town”.
“We have many great things planned to secure our future in this land,” the letter reads.
“Be prepared to train, to get outdoors and sacrifice some of your personal time for a higher purpose. Blood and honour.”
Images shared to encrypted social media platform Telegram, which have since been removed, show a group of men posing in front of the Australian flag in the group’s SA headquarters and at Port Adelaide.
One caption includes a quote from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, while another refers to claims of “the lying Jews in the media”.
Other posts show the group sharing a dinner to celebrate Hitler’s birthday and three men doing a Nazi salute.
SA Police said it was investigating the distribution of flyers from “groups who allegedly espouse right wing ideologies”.
“SAPOL respects the right of individuals to have different beliefs in a democratic country. However, inciting people to commit violence on others is not acceptable and these groups are being closely monitored,” a police spokesman said.
“SAPOL thoroughly investigates any reports of individuals or groups who through their ideology or beliefs seek to incite violence within the community. This applies equally to religious based or ideological based violence.”
The organisation also shared a post supporting notorious neo-Nazi extremist group leader Thomas Sewell, who is part of the National Socialist Network.
Mr Sewell was arrested in May 2021 by counter-terrorism police and faced court over an alleged armed robbery in Victoria.
He was also accused of repeatedly punching a guard after he demanded to see staff from A Current Affair, which was broadcasting a story about the neo-Nazi group on March 1 last year.
Mr Sewell is also believed to have received letters from baby-faced alleged SA neo-Nazi leader Cameron Brodie-Hall, who has been giving orders to his followers from prison while on terrorism charges.
Those charges arise from police raids of 15 homes in April last year in connection with alleged ideological extremism.
Two other men – Patrick Patmore, 33, of Salisbury East, and Justin Robert Bassett, 28, of Surrey Downs – have each pleaded guilty to charges resulting from the raids.
Paul Harold Casey, 48, of Salisbury North, is still before the courts charged with using surveillance devices to covertly record, and publicly release, police conversations.
Anthony Paul Dobson, 23, of Dudley Park, has pleaded guilty to one charge but denied others, claiming his parents are “extremists” who “have an unusual belief system”.
Another group member, Reece Keven Brookes, 31, of Munno Para West, will face court on Thursday charged with possession of terrorist material, possession of extremist material and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Since 2019, 17 suspects have been arrested for either religious or ideological terrorism-related offences but data on current investigations is secret.
The state’s top anti-terror police officer says the Covid-19 pandemic has helped fuel a rise in far-right violent views in seemingly normal middle-class men living in the suburbs.
SA Police Assistant Commissioner Noel Bamford said the profile of neo-Nazi extremists had moved from a skinhead with tattoos to a “reasonably well-educated, middle-class” man aged 25.
Earlier this year, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said there had also been a rise in minors being targeted by extremist groups and taking part in “intense” activities or views.
“A few years ago, minors represented around two to three per cent of our new counter-terrorism investigations,” he said.
“In the last year, though, the figure’s been closer to fifteen per cent. And perhaps more disturbingly, these young people are more intense in their extremism.”
“Where once minors tended to be on the fringe of extremist groups, we are now seeing teenagers in leadership positions, directing adults, and willing to take violent action themselves.”
One Nation senator Sarah Game recently introduced legislation which would make public display of the Nazi swastika illegal in South Australia, following in the footsteps of recently-passed Victorian laws.
Earlier this week, Victoria became the first Australian state to make displaying the symbols a punishable offence.
Ms Game’s Bill would mean anyone found to be displaying the symbol would be liable to a fine of up to $20,000 or a maximum 12 months in jail.
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Originally published as Adelaide neo-Nazi group monitored over Hitler posts and suburban propaganda
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