Neo-Nazi group challenges Australian hate ban as unconstitutional

A neo-Nazi group aiming to establish a political party has launched a constitutional challenge against Australia’s hate-speech ban, arguing the law could lead to tyranny.

The federal government last week listed the National Socialist Network (NSN), also known as White Australia, as a prohibited hate group under legislation passed after the December Bondi Beach terror attack.

The group had announced it would disband hours before the law was introduced at a special sitting of parliament in January.

But Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Friday the group instead “phoenixed” and its members continued organizing.

Burke said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) recommended in April that the government consider listing White Australia. That same month, the group applied to register as a political party.

Solicitor Matthew Hopkins, who previously represented NSN leader Thomas Sewell, filed a legal challenge Friday in the High Court of Australia against the commonwealth over the law used to enforce the ban. Hopkins acted on behalf of Sewell and the planned White Australia Party.

Court documents state that on January 13, the NSN and the Australian European Movement, “some of whose former members assisted in the formation” of the White Australia Party, “disbanded voluntarily.” But the documents note the party did not dissolve and that Sewell remains its president.

The neo-Nazi group argues the law is invalid because it “burdens the freedom of governmental and political communication” and violates the constitution by granting punitive power to the executive without judicial review.

The group contends the commonwealth lacks authority to proscribe a political party, and doing so contradicts the 1951 High Court decision in Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth, which found an attempt by the Menzies government to outlaw the Communist Party exceeded parliament’s power.

“The challenged provisions, in short, operates as a doorway to tyranny, by empowering the executive to name, suppress and criminalise political opponents and opposing views,” Sewell and the White Australia Party state in the court documents.

The group has separately filed an application seeking an interim order restraining the commonwealth from using the law until the court reaches a final determination.

The listing of NSN and White Australia as a hate group makes activities such as supporting, funding, training, recruiting and joining the group a criminal offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The group is the second to be listed under the new law, following the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Burke and Asio chief Mike Burgess have said both groups previously operated in a “lawful but awful” manner, staying below the threshold for designation as a terrorist organization.

“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,” Burke said Friday when announcing the ban.