Aussie neo-Nazi groups now targeting society at large

Australian neo-Nazi groups have become a much bigger threat in recent years, a leading expert says, and they’re not only targeting minorities.

Neo-Nazi groups are on the rise in Australia and they’re now more dangerous than ever.

That’s according to Dr Kristy Campion, a professor from Charles Sturt University who is an expert on right wing extremism and terrorism.

“They pose a genuine security risk,” Dr Campion told news.com.au’s podcast, I’ve Got News For You. “Not just because of the threat they pose to life, but also the threat they pose to our values.

“In recent years, we’ve seen quite a substantial number of neo-Nazi’s being charged or at least prosecuted for some very serious offences,” Dr Campion said. “These range from improvised explosive devices to sharing bomb making instructions, 3D weapons, firearms possession … stockpiling weapons and ammunition.”

Dr Campion said what’s also worrying is that far-right groups have now widened their targets.

“What makes this different is that in the past, their violence was typically more sort of arson attacks against symbolic targets such as synagogues and mosques, or it was generally directed at each other,” she said. “(But now) it has become directed more at society at large.

“We’ve seen right wing extremists who have been convicted of terrorism act offences targeting everyday Australians, or people who might adhere to left wing political beliefs, people who might simply be protesting an issue that (neo-Nazis) happen to oppose – so the violence has become directed more at society now than what it was in the past,” she told podcast host Andrew Bucklow.

In 2020, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said that 40 per cent of its case load was dedicated to homegrown far-right violent extremist groups.

In 2016, that number was just 10 to 15 per cent.

Mike Burgess, Director-General of Security. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire

Little is known about how many neo-Nazi groups there are in Australia or how many members they have, but Dr Campion told I’ve Got News For You that the true number could be “wild”.

“It’s impossible to quantify exactly how many neo-Nazis we have in Australia, and one of the reasons for that is that these sorts of organisations do tend to be quite short lived,” Dr Campion said.

“We do see groups emerge, they might not even make it to the media, they might just emerge as like a Facebook group or on some other online medium and they’ll be active for a little while but then they do tend to disintegrate and fall apart.

“Or, as we’ve seen happen with some prominent groups in Australia, they actually evolve and change over time and they do tend to endure in some way, shape or form.

A protester does a Nazi salute at an Australian freedom rally. Picture: Brendan Beckett/NCA NewsWire

A group of Melbourne neo-Nazis took a birthday cake with a swastika symbol to a gathering at a German beer hall in the Docklands.

“When it comes to support for the organisation, those numbers change, and it could be quite a wild number.”

Earlier this year, Victoria become the first Australian state to make displaying a Nazi swastika a punishable offence.

Individuals found in breach of the new legislation will face up to 12 months in prison and fines of almost $22,000.

You can listen to the full interview with Dr Campion on the I’ve Got News For You podcast