Coalition senator dismisses neo-Nazis outside office as ‘cosplaying losers’

Masked neo-Nazis have rallied outside senior Coalition senator James Paterson’s Melbourne office on Sunday chanting racist slogans and declaring both Labor and the Liberals were traitors to the white race.

About 30 people dressed purely in black, with their faces obscured by hoods and stockings, stood outside Paterson’s office in South Melbourne as one unmasked man yelled into a microphone, claiming both parties created a “third world Australia”.

Paterson, the Coalition’s spokesman on home affairs and a strong voice against antisemitism in Australia, dismissed the protests, saying he was “not remotely intimidated by cosplaying losers who hide their faces behind masks”.

Neo-Nazis protesting outside senator James Paterson’s office.Credit: X

“I certainly won’t be lectured on patriotism from people who worship a failed foreign regime. These protesters only make me more determined to protect Australians from extremists of all stripes,” he said.

While the protesters issued no direct threats, the ugly protest outside Paterson’s office comes as the Australian Federal Police warn that threats against politicians have doubled in the past three years, prompting the agency to increase protection for MPs and their staff during the election campaign.

The video shows for two minutes the unmasked yelling into a microphone about the rise in immigration, the competition for housing and the struggle for real wages.

“Both are to blame,” the man yelled, pointing at Paterson’s office. “Each is equally guilty … they give our nation nothing.”

At one stage, the man lifts his right arm up, appearing to make an outlawed Nazi salute. He also declares the politicians will “not go unpunished”.

The group then chant “Australia for the white man” and other neo-Nazi chants. This masthead has chosen not to show the video.

Victoria Police responded to a report about the protest on Sunday and appealed for anyone who witnessed the rally or has video or dashcam footage to contact Crimestoppers.

“It is understood a group of 20 people were outside a business on York Street about 1.15pm,” police said in a statement.

“The group dispersed before police arrived. Investigators are currently making enquiries into the incident and if any offences were committed.”

Last Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed authorities have launched legal proceedings to protect him after a “serious incident”, as it emerged that a Brisbane teenager had allegedly plotted to harm Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in a terrorist attack.

Albanese said he had reached out to Dutton to discuss the alleged terror plot, adding that “it is a fact that the number of threats that have been made to parliamentarians has increased in recent times and that has been reported on by the appropriate authorities”.

On the day Albanese called the election, Friday, March 28, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he had to cancel an appearance at an Islamic prayer event the week before on the advice of federal police after a group of men arrived to confront him.

“After speaking to the Australian Federal Police, given the nature of the message that had been circulated, and the fact that I was there to speak to the community, not the people who had travelled some distance for a different purpose, I decided to attend on another occasion,” Burke said.

The protesters were directed to confront Burke by a text message sent widely, calling on Muslim men to stop the minister attending the ceremony.

“It would be a great service if brothers can come to Parry Park today and hold them to account and showing [sic] them that they are not welcome.”

This masthead reported on Friday that neo-Nazis were distributing extremist leaflets to residents in Melbourne’s western suburbs referencing government immigration policy.

MP Tim Watts, whose Gellibrand electorate is in the western suburbs, said the leaflets were reported to police and there was no place for outsiders who shared such “hateful, racist fearmongering” content.

Police also removed homophobic banners targeting the Labor MP for Bruce, Julian Hill, hung in streets within his south-east Melbourne electorate, including on an overpass bridge.

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