Fledgling political party White Australia has had an application to start a company in its name rejected because the word “White” is a “blacklisted word/phrase”.
White Australia’s NSW leader Jack Eltis attempted to register White Australia Pty Ltd as a company for the purposes of “political party operation” with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), but was informed on Monday the application had been refused.
A letter sent by ASIC to Mr Eltis and seen by Noticer News cites the word “White” as the reason for the refusal of the application.
“The name in the opinion of ASIC, the context in which it is proposed to be used, is considered to be undesirable for registration in that: BLACK LISTED WORD/PHRASE: WHITE,” the letter stated.
According to the ASIC website, company names that are “in ASIC’s opinion, likely to offend the members of the public or member of any section of the public” cannot be used, but ministerial consent can be applied for at a cost of $1,512.
White Australia is in the process of registering as a political party with the Australian Electoral Commission, and Mr Eltis said the aim of registering the company was to support the party’s upcoming launch and political activities.
“During the application process, I explicitly listed the main business activity as ‘political party operations’,” he said.
“It seems clear that ASIC and the Australian government intend to block our operations at every possible avenue. The fact that White Australians cannot even start a company to trade, bank and operate in their own nation is egregious.
“We intend to challenge this decision by ASIC, on the basis of restricting political communication, protected by the Australian constitution.”
The ASIC decision comes after Mr Eltis had an application to hire Parramatta Town Hall for a political meeting rejected because of the council’s policies on “diversity” and “social justice”.
ASIC was contacted for comment but referred Noticer News to the rules for acceptable company names.
Header image: Main, Jack Eltis speaking at a seminar. Inset, the refusal letter (supplied).
