Two prominent nationalist activists have been convicted of “failing to leave” Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance after being swarmed by police while trying to pay respects to their ancestors.
Timothy Lutze and Jimeone Roberts represented themselves in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday where they argued they had been targeted for their political beliefs by being denied access to the Shrine along with a group of other former members of the National Socialist Network in February last year.
Mr Lutze submitted that the order to leave the Shrine was unlawful as it was not based on reasonable grounds, and told the court that after being given the order he and Mr Roberts reviewed the Shrine Act and returned to the outer edge of the Shrine Reserve to ask police for permission to attend as individuals.
He said that they demonstrated an intention to obey the law, only to be immediately arrested despite not being disruptive and having no history of disruptive conduct at the site, and asked for the charge to be dismissed.
But a magistrate found that while the group was not disruptive, the order made the by Shrine CEO was “reasonable” and Mr Lutze and Mr Roberts were guilty of breaching it when they re-entered the reserve to speak to police, and fined both men $250.
Video of the moments before two Australian nationalists were arrested at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance yesterday, showing the huge number of police called out to prevent their small group from attending a service.
Follow: @NoticerNews pic.twitter.com/q0KQwBf5Vk
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) February 24, 2025
The hearing came a day after Mr Lutze appeared in the same court charged with offensive behaviour over an unrelated alleged anti-illegal immigration protest, and Mr Roberts had separate assault and recklessly cause injury charges dropped in Ringwood Magistrates Court.
At a hearing earlier this month a video played to the court showed an inspector telling the group he was invoking Section 6 of the Shrine of Remembrance Act, accusing the group of breaching the regulations by “assembling” at the shrine, and ordering them to leave.
“So Australian citizens aren’t allowed to pay respects?” one of the men asked in response, while other questions asking for clarifications on the regulations were ignored by police.
Former Shrine CEO Dean Lee, who stepped down in December after bringing in a series of woke reforms, then told the group that because there was a specific service honouring war animals the Shrine had decided to deny them entry.
“We believe that it is best that that service is allowed to be conducted without any group who are seeking to demonstrate any level of political allegiance or affiliation that is not related to the purpose of this place,” he said.
The activists described the arrests as “political policing and pre-crime at its most egregious” after being charged and banned from attending the Shrine on Anzac Day last year, and vowed to fight the charges.
Mr Roberts told Noticer News on Tuesday that he and his colleagues were “obviously being discriminated against because of our political beliefs”.
“The corruption and hypocrisy of the police and the anti-Australian government that wields them can not be overstated,” he said.
“When it suits their agenda, discrimination is a cardinal sin. Yet ordinary Australians can be forcefully excluded from our most sacred site at the whim of these political lapdogs purely due to the political views we hold.
“These same traitors to Australia laid siege to that very same Shrine, dispensing tear gas on peaceful Australian citizens not more than a few years ago. The disloyalty and disrespect to our fallen ancestors is egregious.”
Mr Roberts also criticised police over the charges that were dropped on Monday, saying they came to his house with guns and harassed his family without even taking witness statements, and called the prosecution a “clown show”.
“That’s how Victoria Police work nowadays, they charge people first, ask questions later. It’s an absolute joke,” he said.
Header image: Mr Roberts and Mr Lutze outside court. Right, police blocking access to the Shrine on the day of the arrests (supplied).
