As has now been well reported, a large group of men led by Thomas Sewell, the leader of the neo-nazi National Socialist Network, boarded a train at Artarmon (a small, quiet, suburban train station on Sydney’s north shore) where they claimed they were travelling to the City to participate in Australia Day events. This is also where large ‘Invasion Day’ rallies were taking place. 

NSW Police acted promptly and decisively where they intercepted the group at North Sydney Station. Six were arrested and 57 were issued with Rail Infringement Notices and prevented from continuing their journey and attending Australia Day events in the City.  

The group then walked up the Pacific Highway from North Sydney back to Artarmon, escorted by police cars and a police helicopter. There is some commentary that the group had travelled to Sydney from Victoria.

The following Sunday they were also seen gathering at a local Artarmon park where the police again acted quickly.

I follow politics and the news cycle closely every day through my work as a political commentator and campaigner. This is sadly far from the first time I’ve seen such a group gather and intimidate in this way in Australia and ASIO has been raising the alarm about a rise in neo-nazi groups for some time. However, seeing neo-nazis in my local community, in locations that are so familiar, is frightening and a strong reminder that none of us are immune or protected by where and how we live.

In recent years, Australia Day has become an issue where the views of an increasing number of people in our community have evolved to be more aligned with the views of Indigenous Australians and their concerns with this day. Politicians such as Peter Dutton and others, are increasingly using tactics straight out of the Trump playbook to whip up nationalism against these views through outrage and division.

Starting in early January, Australia Day has become a standard day in the calendar for these Trump-like tactics where this year we also saw violent attacks at various Woolworths stores as a direct outcome of Peter Dutton’s (and other’s) nationalistic calls.

Such tactics by politicians can’t work in isolation. They feed the agenda-led 24/7 mainstream news cycle of a highly disrupted mainstream media sector – whose revenue model now largely relies on how many listen to and watch shock jocks and click to read outrage headlines. This then flows to and amplifies across social media platforms which are mostly unregulated and unmoderated.  

It’s these tactics, these ‘ecosystems of outrage’ which are deliberately put into play by politicians and media again and again over a range of issues. Rinse. Repeat. 

These deliberate and predictable tactics find their audience through a ground ripe with social division. The annual Scanlon Report (out of Monash University), recently showed we are more divided now than at any time since the report’s commencement 16 years ago. The Report, which measures Australia’s social cohesion, found the “relentless cost-of-living pressure, rising interest rates, uncertainty about the direction of the economy and growing concern about inequality has undermined Australia’s sense of social cohesion”. The pandemic and The Voice also contributed. 

Throughout history we’ve seen populist politicians take advantage of social division with the most terrible and tragic outcomes. Those of us who are watching, clearly see history repeating, certainly overseas and increasingly here in Australia where we are also vulnerable to the global shift to populist politicians and parties. 

This concerning and highly charged environment coincides with 40 countries holding their elections this year (the most in a single year in history) including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, The EU and Indonesia. It is not alarmist to say that democracy is at risk.

Australia also has multiple elections – state/territory elections in QLD, NT and ACT – and council elections in Vic and NSW with media reporting the plans of fringe groups in some of these elections.

As I highlighted last year for the Women’s Agenda Keynotes series – the solution is in our hands. It requires our active, positive and inclusive participation in our democracy within our communities, and using the power of our compulsory vote to ensure we elect representatives who prioritise our interests in their actions and decision making. 

Our participation in our democracy is also perhaps the most profound legacy we can leave to our kids and our grandkids. I was reminded of this when I made that phone call to my eldest daughter warning her about the group of neo-nazis in our local area.

No one is coming to save us but us. We all have a role to play to support and strengthen our democracy. It’s time to step up!

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Victorian opposition leader John Pusetto said Deeming’s position in the party was “untenable” as she had played a role “organising, promoting and participating” in the rally, which had speakers and organisers who are associated with “far-right extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”. 

At the rally outside the Victorian parliament in Melbourne, a group of men from the National Socialist Movement repeatedly performed the Nazi salute. The group wore all black, some covering their faces with balaclavas, standing with a sign that said: “Destroy Paedo Freaks”.

The group had gathered in support of the rally, which featured British anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker.

Pesutto released a statement condemning the rally, saying it was an “affront to the values we should all hold dear as Victorians”.

Pesutto said he had held a meeting with Deeming, where he informed her at the next party room meeting he would move a motion to expel as a member of the parliamentary Liberal Party. 

“The Liberal Party I joined and which I am now honoured to lead, must strive to represent all Victorians,” he said in the statement.

“Regardless of religious faith, race, sexual preference and identity, Victorians everywhere should know that the Liberal Party is inclusive and can be a voice for them.”

Pesutto said it wasn’t “an issue of free speech” – it was about “a member of the parliamentary party associating with people whose views are abhorrent to my values, the values of the Liberal Party and the wider community”.

Deeming was elected to parliament last year replacing controversial MP Bernie Finn. She has been critical of Victoria’s safe schools program which is designed to prevent bullying of LGBTQI+ children, and has a history of attacking the rights of transgender people.

Moves to ban Nazi salutes

The rally outside the parliament on Saturday spurred calls for the use of Nazi salutes to be banned. Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes has now confirmed legislation will be introduced to ban the display of the nazi salute following the protest. The Victorian government has previously outlawed the Nazi swastika. 

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews issued a statement of strong condemnation of the rally, and offered his support to the transgender community in Victoria.

“Yesterday, anti-trans activists gathered to spread hate,” he posted to Twitter. “And on the steps of our Parliament, some of them performed a Nazi salute.”

“I wish it didn’t have to be said, but clearly it does: Nazis aren’t welcome. Not on Parliament’s steps. Not anywhere. They were there to say the trans community don’t deserve rights, safety or dignity. That’s what Nazis do. Their evil ideology is to scapegoat minorities – and it’s got no place here. And those who stand with them don’t, either.

“So to every trans Victorian, I say this: Our Government will always support you. And we’ll always respect you. Because your rights are not negotiable.”

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Referencing the neo-Nazi protest at St Kilda Beach in January (an event attended by former Senator Fraser Anning), Langton lamented Australia’s lack of legal repercussions against inciters of hate and fascism.

“I don’t understand why Australia didn’t– just as Europe did– many years ago, make it a criminal offence to deny the Holocaust.” she said.

“When I saw those lunatic fascists in Melbourne on St Kilda Beach giving the heil Hitler salute, in our city– and Fraser Anning was with them– I was just enraged that there was no law to stop that. The police were there, there was a counter protest, but it just should be illegal. Then they daubed anti-semitic filth all over the walls around the suburb, including on a Jewish old people’s home”.

Langton then went on to speak about the pervasiveness and prevalence of this behaviour– the reason why she supported commercial litigator and refugee Nyadol Nyuon’s Change.org campaign to block right wing extremists from coming to the country. The successful petition generated nearly 100,000 signatures.

But outside of social protests like Nyuon’s campaign, Langton emphasised the responsibility of parliamentarians to shift the status quo- a duty they routinely forget.

When Pauline Hanson’s motion ‘It’s Okay to be White’ was backed by several Liberal MPs, Langton said she “felt sick” and “started to lose hope”.

“When our senators voted for Pauline Hanson’s idiotic resolution ‘It’s Okay to be White’ — which is a Ku Klux Klan slogan, I felt sick, and I started to lose hope. I thought: ‘How can apparently intelligent people vote for that resolution? I was so disgusted,” she said.

“Just look at the list of people that voted for that resolution. It’s shocking. It’s absolutely deeply, deeply shocking. And to this day, I have to say I’m going to find it very, very difficult to be civil to the people who voted for that resolution in the Senate.

“This movement has brought disgrace to our Parliament, this filth is in our Parliament, and there’s barely an objection. Why didn’t the people responsibly in parliament put a halt to this? How could anybody let Pauline Hanson’s resolution go through to the Senate Chamber? How could that happen?

In her final remarks, Langton stressed the importance of re-education, suggesting many Australians don’t know crucial history that could change their perspective on these issues.

“I think really, the whole of Australia needs to be re-educated and the government had better start doing it,” she said.

“Do you know there are young Australians at school who don’t know what the Holocaust is? They don’t know anything about it. Most people don’t know about the genocide convention, they don’t know about the Nuremberg trials, and you know, I could go on and on. I would like to see the government take these issues much more seriously.

.@marcialangton discusses St Kilda, Pauline Hanson, and rising racism in Australia #QandA pic.twitter.com/eTKcw98iCc

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) May 27, 2019

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