Elections 2025: Greens back candidate Mandy Nolan backed despite 2011 Hitler joke

A Greens federal candidate who once joked Adolf Hitler was having ‘fun’ – and later apologised – has retained the party’s ‘unwavering’ support.

Greens candidate Mandy Nolan, who is mounting a fresh bid for the marginal seat of Richmond in northern NSW. Picture: supplied

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

A Greens candidate who once joked Adolf Hitler was having his kind of “fun” – and later quipped Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s death had saved her from a backlash over it – has the party’s “unwavering” support ahead of the federal election.

Mandy Nolan, who is mounting a fresh bid for the marginal seat of Richmond in northern NSW, in 2023 joked that news of Warne’s sudden death “saved” her from being cancelled over the controversial 2011 remarks she made about Adolf Hitler.

The Byron Bay-based comedian-turned-candidate landed in hot water in 2022 after comments emerged from the August 2011 YouTube video where she discussed the frustration of explaining to her teenage daughter about the need to balance fun and responsibility.

Greens candidate for Richmond, Mandy Nolan and Greens leader Adam Bandt speak to media during a doorstop at Parliament House in 2022. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

“Just look at Hitler. He had fun. He did whatever he wanted to do,” she said in the video. “Just ask six million Jews how they feel about that now and he still didn’t get his sociopathic fill – you just can’t do it, it’s ­unethical.”

Despite pressure for the Greens to disendorse her, Greens leader Adam Bandt said at the time that she would make a great member for Richmond and pointed out that she apologised.

“Mandy has a strong history of fighting anti-Semitism and fascism, and has apologised for any distress caused by her comments,” he said in 2022.

On Tuesday, a Greens spokesperson said the party maintained their support for Ms Nolan.

“These comments were addressed when Mandy apologised years ago. We maintain our unwavering support for Mandy,” the spokesperson said.

In a podcast appearance in 2023, Ms Nolan made an admission about how the backlash on her Hitler remarks abruptly ended. Speaking to comedian Wil Anderson on his Wilosophy podcast, she recalled her reaction when news broke that Mr Warne had died of a sudden heart attack in Thailand — on the same day The Australian published a story about her Hitler remarks.

“I went, no, everyone is going to go look for this terrible thing,” she said. “It ended up being on the second page of The Australian and in the morning I was waiting for it to hit and get completely smashed …

“As I pick up my phone and look at the news it just says Shane Warne died ... and I went f*** yes.

“That story just died and I was saved,” she added. “I felt really lucky about that.”

Labor won the Richmond seat at the last election 58.2 per cent to the Nationals’ 41.8 per cent, on a two party preferred basis.

But Ms Nolan polled strongly on first preferences, with 25.3 per cent of the vote compared with Labor’s Justine Elliott’s 28.8 per cent, indicating she could be a real threat in the seat.

President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said Ms Nolan’s remarks say “everything about the Greens political party’’.

“Adam Bandt must be kidding himself. This must be the first time that someone who has claimed that ‘Hitler was having fun’ has been described as a strong campaigner against antisemitism,” Mr Ossip said.

“It says everything about the Greens political party that this individual is an endorsed candidate for the party.”