‘Devastated’: Moment mum discovered her teenage son had joined a neo-Nazi group

A Victorian mum has revealed the moment she realised her teenage son was part of a neo-Nazi group and the text message one of its members sent him.

A Victorian mum has revealed the ‘devastating’ moment she discovered her teenage son had joined a prominent neo-Nazi group while watching TV on Australia Day.

Emily was watching the 6pm news on January 26, 2024 when she spotted her 17-year-old son, Scott, standing with one of the nation’s most notorious neo-Nazis during a press conference, she told ABC’s Four Corners program, which will air on Monday night. 

Emily, whose name was changed for privacy reasons, said her son had told her he was going on a weekend boxing trip away with friends. 

Instead, he was pictured wearing a black face mask and sunglasses standing near Thomas Sewell, leader of neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network (NSN).

Emily said the sight left her “devastated, absolutely devastated.” 

“I thought this is war,” she told Four Corners. “You literally started a war on my family.”

Emily spotted her teenage son standing with a neo-Nazi group on TV. Picture: ABC

Emily said she first noticed changes in her son – a quiet boy who loved reading and sports- when he was 16.

“You have your average grumpy teenager but this was different,” she said.

“There was less respect. He was silent a lot.”

The teenager had become frustrated by lockdowns and was withdrawing from his family and friends. 

“At first you think, ‘Oh maybe he’s got girl problems. Or is he getting bullied at school? Or is he struggling in class,’” Emily said.

“I felt something was off and I couldn’t pinpoint what. I did not think he’d be involved with a neo-Nazi organisation.”

Emily said her son met the NSN at a rally against the Indigenous Voice to parliament in 2023 and was drawn in by the group’s offer of friendship and fitness.

“They offered him boxing lessons … and then slowly haul them in until you find your kid at their monthly gatherings while they’re reading from Hitler’s delusional Mein Kampf as if it’s the Bible.”

Her son was pictured standing near prominent neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell. Picture: NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

‘No strings attached’

Emily – whose grandfather was a Dutch resistance fighter and murdered in a German concentration camp – feared her son would leave home and move into the group’s unofficial headquarters in a house in Melbourne, which she said was full of Nazi books and Hitler portraits.

A group member even encouraged her son to save money and get his affairs in order so he could move out of his family’s home “no strings attached”. 

“Breh I’ma be real you probably can’t move out until you are 18 … Spend the next few months getting control of your life wherever you can, i.e. your own bank account, Medicare card, save up for a car (urgent) … So that when you are 18 you can leave no strings attached,” a NSN member texted Emily’s son.

Trying to help her son, Emily reached out to authorities but eventually received the support she needed when she contacted an overseas NGO that referred her to Australian far-right disengagement group, Exit Australia.

Exit Australia, which does not receive any government support, is the only independent support group that works with extremists and their families in the country. 

Founder Matthew Quinn said Emily was “desperate for help for her son” when she reached out. 

“(She) willing to do anything really to get some attention and couldn’t find anything,” he told the ABC. 

Mr Quinn stepped in and after getting a politician involved, was able to help Emily’s son access a Victoria police early-intervention program.

NSN members Picture: ABC/Four Corners

State and territory police and governments offer Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs to support those who have been radicalised, as part of a federal government strategy.

The Home Affairs Department told Four Corners 174 people are currently taking part in the federally funded programs – 64 per cent of whom are under 25 years old. 

Since taking part in the program, Emily said she is hopeful her son won’t return to the extremist group. But she is calling for greater support for Aussies with radicalised family members.

“A lot of parents are either not informed or not even offered a chance, which is absolutely disgusting … Parents are left in the dark, and that needs to change.”

Government slaps neo-Nazi network with sanctions

Earlier this month, the Albanese government imposed strict counter-terrorism financing sanctions on white supremacist network Terrorgram to combat antisemtism.

Terrorgram is a collective that advocates for white supremacist violence on encrypted social media platforms, such as Telegram.

“This is the first time an Australian government has imposed these sorts of sanctions on an online entity in this way,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Canberra.

“We are doing it because we are working to keep Australians safe.”

Penny Wong said it was the fist time a government had imposed similar sanctions on an online entity. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP

The sanctions criminalise engaging with Terrorgram in any way.

Those who violate the sanctions could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

Both Britain and the US have proscribed Terrorgram a terrorist organisation.

In addition to Terrogram, the Albanese government relisted the National Socialist Order, the Russian Imperial Movement, Sonnenkrieg Division and The Base for counter-terrorism financing sanctions.

Fresh sanctions were also slapped on the new leader of Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.

Qassem took the leadership of the proscribed terror group after an Israeli air strike killed his predecessor last year.

-With NCA NewsWire