Neo-nazi group ‘White Australia’ listed as banned hate group

White Australia, the neo-nazi group, has been listed as a banned hate group under the government’s new laws.Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the neo-nazi Nationalist Socialist Network, which disbanded earlier this year, had re-formed and “phoenixed” into a group known as White Australia.”What they did, for 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,” he told reporters today.Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announces White Australia has been listed as a hate group. (Nine)ASIO told the government White Australia had likely met thresholds to be considered a hate group – advocating and engaging in hate crimes – on April 22.Burke said examples of their hateful actions had been widely covered in the media.”We saw in Melbourne, specific violent action that you all covered…. we’ve also seen a series of actions of threats, some of which are different arrests that you’ve reported of people who’ve been motivated by a white supremacist ideology,” he said. Following the March for Australia protest in Melbourne late last year, a group led by notorious neo-nazi Thomas Sewell attacked a sacred Indigenous site, injuring several people.With the opposition’s support, the group will officially be listed as a hate group at midnight. ”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,” Burke said. In January, in the wake of the Bondi attack, the government introduced tough new hate laws to allow them to list and ban a hate group.White Australia becomes the second group to be listed under the laws, following Hizb ut-Tahrir as the first.NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.

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