Neo-Nazi group sets up training camps to recruit members, build political party
A neo-Nazi network is exploiting public spaces across NSW for recruitment drives, as experts warn the group's violent rhetoric has significantly escalated in recent months.
Neo-Nazis are ramping up recruitment drives across NSW, setting up boot camps to lure young men into their extremist network in the hopes of registering as a mainstream political party.
The Saturday Telegraph can reveal members of the National Socialist Network (NSN) are targeting men across Sydney, as well as regional areas including the Riverina and parts of northern NSW in a bid to expand their membership base.
It comes after about 60 neo-Nazis demonstrated outside NSW parliament last week, where they held an anti-Semitic banner and chanted a Hitler Youth slogan.
NSW Police were heavily criticised for failing to prevent the demonstration, despite a Form 1 application outlining plans for an anti-Jewish rally outside parliament being signed by NSN NSW leader Jack Eltis.
Eltis describes himself as the leader of White Australia NSW.
Joel Davis, another key figure from the NSN, who was involved in the rally, told followers the group intended to register a political party.
Shockingly, encrypted Telegram posts reveal the NSN has been holding “weekly training” sessions in Sydney parks – some close to children’s playgrounds – bragging that its “growth is unstoppable”, with “consistent month-on-month increases in membership”.
Recent photos of the training sessions, including one in a popular Parramatta Park, shows dozens of neo-Nazis holding the NSN flag alongside the Australian flag, with one caption claiming the group had broken its “attendance record”.
In another post, from September, the NSN wrote: “A portion of the Sydney White Australia membership went hiking as part of our regular group activity roster of events.
“We welcomed new members and hiked a strenuous 7km in the Blue Mountains.”
Other images show members of the NSN taking part in a hike earlier this year at The Rock, near Wagga Wagga.
In October, Telegram posts also expose the neo-Nazis hosting a seminar in Sydney, claiming to have more than 100 attendees.
The group boasted about “surpassing the crowds drawn by both (One Nation leaders Pauline) Hanson and (Gerard) Rennick at their recent Sydney events”.
Meanwhile, a video shows Eltis describing a three-day event in the New England region of northern NSW, where dozens of neo-Nazis took part in “highland games”-style competitions and were filmed singing far-right chants around a campfire.
Footage shows attendees being draped in “participation medals” for completing various strength competitions.
Multiple sources have also told The Saturday Telegraph that March for Australia has had the effect of helping the NSN’s recruitment drive, after the neo-Nazis credited the rallies with sparking a surge in new memberships.
A video from the August rally emerged last month showing organiser Bec Walker interacting with a prominent member of the NSN in Sydney.
In an email seen by The Telegraph, Eltis told neo-Nazi supporters in September that “following the successes of our August national meet and March for Australia, we experienced a nationwide surge in recruitment”.
However, Ms Walker told The Telegraph that she had “no involvement with the NSN”, other than conversations prior to MFA events to ensure the rally ran “smoothly”.
When asked about the MFA’s alleged involvement to drive new NSN memberships, Ms Walker said: “Any organisation is free to hand out flyers at MFA events and we had several others take this opportunity.
“Other than both myself and the NSN agreeing that we need to stop mass immigration and preserve our heritage and culture, I have no other connection to them or their organisation,” she said.
In a letter to staff sent on Friday, NSW Premier’s Department Secretary Simon Draper issued a statement after a Sydney Trains employee was stood down after attending the neo-Nazi rally last week.
“The government and parliamentary presiding officers have been clear that they will not tolerate actions designed to incite hatred and divide the community,” Mr Draper said.
Deakin University’s Associate Professor Josh Roose, a leading expert on religious and violent extremism, said the White Australia Party was a “front organisation” for the NSN.
“They shouldn’t meet the threshold for (political) registration, given their links to violence and use of intimidation and hate-filled sentiment, and public and rhetoric online,” he said.
Dr Roose said the NSN had for years targeted regional cities in NSW, however there had been a “significant escalation” in the group’s violent and hateful rhetoric in recent months.
Terrorism expert and Deakin University Professor Greg Barton, who is one of Australia’s leading scholars of Islam, terrorism and countering violent extremism, said the NSN attracted members through a sense of “powerful masculinity”, with fitness activities serving as ways to engage with that culture.
“They’re playing around in the larger pool of the manosphere,” he said.
Prof Barton said the NSN saw itself as being “on the right side of history” and, despite having only a small following, he said it was possible numbers could grow as part of a broader movement.
“If they (police) were leading with police intelligence and checking who was making applications to hold demonstrations and they saw it was NSN that should have automatically been stopped,” he said.
Police and Counter-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley said: “What we saw on the weekend was deplorable and distressing.
“Freedom of speech does not extend to bringing about hatred in our community. This kind of activity undermines the values that hold our state together: decency, tolerance and mutual respect,” she said.
“Police manage hundreds of public assemblies in Sydney CBD and their primary focus is on ensuring public safety.”
Ms Catley said the Minns government was considering what legislative changes might be required to cover the kind of “highly offensive display” on show last weekend.
“The NSW Police Force are carefully examining all options under existing law that might allow them to challenge such gatherings at the earliest stage,” she said.
“We can assure the public that the NSW Police Force monitors the activities and rhetoric of extremist groups.”
A NSW police spokesman said: “The community can be assured we continue to monitor activities and rhetoric of extremists and will take action where appropriate.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin told The Saturday Telegraph: “Nazism is not only merely a cohesion issue, it is a threat to national security.
“In the long term, we have to defend our democracy and instil a culture of personal responsibility, but of greatest importance is disrupting any acts of violence Nazi groups or their sympathisers may be planning,” he said.
Originally published as Neo-Nazi group sets up training camps to recruit members, build political party
