NSW neo-Nazis: New laws include jail time, $20k fine for white supremacists

Tough new laws will now hang over the heads of white supremacists who are found guilty of invoking Nazi slogans, chants and more, after neo-Nazis staged a ‘vile’ protest outside parliament.

National Socialist Network Neo-Nazi group holding a rally outside NSW Parliament House this morning. Pic: Supplied.

neo-Nazis will face tough new laws to tackle the threat of extremism after recent high-profile protests by white supremacists in Sydney.

People found guilty of invoking Nazi slogans, chants and other “imagery” could face a year in prison or up to a $20,000 fine under new laws announced by the state government on Wednesday.

The reforms will ban conduct that “indicates support for Nazi ideology by invoking imagery or characteristics associated with Nazism without reasonable excuse and in public”.

The crackdown comes after more than 60 members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network rallied outside state parliament earlier this month.

One of them, South African Matthew Gruter, was taken into immigration detention on Tuesday after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled his visa over his role in the demonstration.

Neo-Nazi Matthew Gruter will be deported from Australia.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley labelled the protest a “deplorable stunt” that had “no place in our society”.

“Nobody should be subject to this vile hatred because of their background or faith,” Mr Daley said.

“We are giving police and the courts additional powers to hold Nazi extremists to account for their abhorrent views.”

Jack Eltis, a Sydney tradie who led the rally outside state parliament and submitted a protest application on behalf of “White Australia, formerly the National Socialist Network”, posted on Telegram yesterday that the group was “extremely close” to having the 1500 members to register a political party.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said the protests were “vile”. Photo: Gaye Gerard

After that protest, City of Sydney Labor councillor Zann Maxwell this week called for reforms to prevent extremist groups protesting in public.

“Our responsibility is twofold: to protect the vulnerable from being pulled in, and to protect the community from those who choose hate with both hands,” he said at a council meeting.

Mr Maxwell noted the National Socialist Network members outside state parliament “weren’t masked” and “weren’t hiding”.

Jack Eltis, an airconditioner installer from Sydney's west, leads the NSW division of the National Socialist Network. Pictures: supplied

“They were disciplined, organised and using the protest authorisation system to present themselves as legitimate political actors,” he said.

“And they’re now close to registering a political party.”

Mr Maxwell warned the group “genuinely believe in racial hierarchy” and questioned why neo-Nazis were “allowed to stage a carefully choreographed PR exercise on the steps of our parliament”.

Fellow City of Sydney councillor Adam Worling also questioned how the protest had been allowed to go ahead.

“We’re an inclusive city; I mean, how the heck did this happen?” he asked.

Renegade NSW MP Mark Latham responded to the laws by reading from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in state parliament yesterday, claiming his recitation of the Nazi tome highlighted “the difficulty in actually defining an ideology”.

He read passages about industrial workers, claiming they “could be words of a Labor MP” or a union official.

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Originally published as NSW neo-Nazis: New laws include jail time, $20k fine for white supremacists