Australia’s Labor government has listed disbanded political organisation White Australia as a prohibited hate group under new laws brought in after the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack.
Home Affairs Minister Burke said on Friday the ban would come into effect at midnight on Friday, meaning anyone who joins, directed, supports, funds, or recruits for the group could face criminal charges and a maximum 15 years in prison.
The National Socialist Network and co-projects the White Australia, the European Australian Movement and the White Australia Party disbanded before the laws were passed in January, but Mr Burke accused them of “phoenixing” while announcing the ban on Friday.
The ban comes after Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir were listed in March.
“The organisation that would be colloquially known as the neo-Nazis, but has gone through different names – the European Australian Movement, the National Socialist Network, and White Australia – has been listed as the second prohibited hate group under the changes that were made to the Criminal Code [after Bondi],” Mr Burke said at Parliament House.
“There is a very strict process for this to happen, the process can only occur when it’s initiated by ASIO, and then a ministerial decision has to follow that, the ministerial decision has to be made with the approval of the Attorney-General, and then there also has to be consultation with the Opposition, and all of these steps have been met.
“The threshold for ASIO and the threshold for the minister are slightly different. The threshold for ASIO is that the organisation is engaged in behaviour that could increase the risk of violence, among other things. The ministerial threshold includes the concept as to whether or not the organisation has advocated or engaged in hate crimes.
“All of the required thresholds have been met, and the government has now completed the work for White Australia to be listed as a prohibited hate group.”
Mr Burke said the legislation stemmed from advice from ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess in November that both now-listed groups were “stretching the boundary of legality” and were “going right to the edge of what they could legally get away with, in ways that were making Australians less safe”.
“On the 12th of January … I announced that we would lower the threshold within the Criminal Code to be able to deal with prohibited hate groups, and that legislation went through the parliament in January,” he said.
“At the time, the neo-Nazis announced that they would be disbanding, effectively, what they did, for want of a better term, was they phoenixed, changed their name, but didn’t change the fact that they were still an organisation and were still engaging in the exact sort of behaviour that met the thresholds for this legislation.
“They thought by announcing that they had disbanded, that they had evaded these laws. They haven’t.”
Mr Burke also confirmed the Opposition was consulted, and thanked them for their help.
“Today, the process has been completed and takes effect at midnight tonight. This means that supporting funding, training, recruiting, joining, or directing this group constitutes a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison,” he said.
“None of this will stop bigoted people from having horrific ideologies, but it does prevent this group from organising, from meeting, and prevents some of the sorts of horrific bigoted rallies that we’ve seen around our country. It sends a clear message to people who believe in racial supremacy that their views have no place in modern Australia.
“The neo-Nazis have gone after almost every different group you can imagine, whether people are Jewish, whether they are Muslim, whether people are of Asian heritage, whether they’re First Nations, they’ve engaged in a series of examples of bigotry, all of which fit with their White supremacist ideology.
“It’s been made clear today that under Australian law they are now a banned organisation.”
Mr Burke said he had not received any advice that ASIO were looking at any other groups, but said the “legal thresholds are there as principles”, when asked how the National Socialist Network had increased the risk of violence, cited “specific violent action” in Melbourne, and “threats” allegedly “motivated by White supremacist ideology”.
Legal experts have warned the “hate groups” laws are open to abuse and could be used to ban political opposition, including One Nation, resulting in party leader Pauline Hanson vowing to repeal them.
Header image: Left, members of the National Socialist Network in Melbourne in August (supplied). Right, Tony Burke (Nine News).
