Updated ,first published
The neo-Nazi group formerly known as the National Socialist Network has been listed as a banned hate organization by the Albanian government under a law introduced after the Bondi murder.
Now it will be a criminal offense, the penalty is up to 15 years in prison, to join or give support to a radical right-wing political group that has gone by various names.
The group announced it would disband in January to avoid being targeted under the new law, but authorities believed its members were still active.
The government announced in March that the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir would be the first group to be banned under the hate groups program, designed for groups that previously defied the definition of a terrorist organization.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he had made the decision based on advice from the local intelligence agency ASIO.
“Today, an organization that used to be known as neo-Nazis, but has gone by different names – the Australian European Movement, the National Socialist Network (NSN) and White Australia – has been listed as the second hate group banned under changes made to the Criminal Code,” Burke told reporters in Canberra.
“This sends a clear message to those who believe in racial supremacy that their views are not acceptable in Australian society.”
The group organized a provocative protest outside the NSW parliament last November where participants held a banner that read: “Stop Jewish influence.”
After the terrorist attack in Bondi on December 14, which left 15 people dead at the Hanukkah celebration, the government identified Hizb ut-Tahrir and NSN as two groups that expressed the need for new hate group laws.
They pointed to behavior that Burgess described as “legitimate but evil”, Burke said on Friday.
“None of this is going to stop extremists from having ideas, but it’s stopping this group from organizing, meeting, and preventing some of the kind of horrible, biased meetings that we’ve seen across the country,” he said.
Burke said the government would be able to act quickly using regulations if NSN tried to change its name.
Burgess said in a speech last year that the NSN was not involved in terrorism but added: “I remain deeply concerned by its hate speech, divisiveness and increasingly violent propaganda, and the growing possibility that this will lead to outright violence, particularly in response to perceived provocation.”
NSN leaders announced in January: “To reduce the risk of people being arrested and prosecuted under these tough new laws, we are shutting down all activities of the following organizations: National Socialist Network; European Australian Movement; White Australia; and the White Australia Party.”
Burke said this did not mean the group members were no longer a threat.
“In fact, what they have done, for lack of a better term, is a phoenix,” he said, referring to the term in which bankrupt companies reappear under a new guise.
Burke said while the group “changed their name, it didn’t change the fact that they were still an organization and they still engaged in the exact type of behavior that met the threshold of this law”.
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect through X, Facebook or email address.
Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect through X or email address.
