Banned neo-Nazi party's lawyers call Australian hate-group law 'authoritarian' in high court fight
Lawyers for the banned neo-Nazi White Australia party are challenging its prohibition in Australia's high court, arguing the anti-hate law is unconstitutional and rests solely on a minister's opinion. The government maintains the party is merely a rebrand of the National Socialist Network created to shield racist speech.
Australia's high court is hearing a two-day challenge this week from the outlawed neo-Nazi group formerly known as the National Socialist Network, now operating as the White Australia party, against its designation as a banned hate group.
The party's lawyers argue that the anti-hate legislation, introduced after the Bondi terror attack, is "authoritarian in nature" and breaches the implied freedom of political communication protected under the constitution.
The organisation was formally listed as an illegal hate group in May, after Australia's domestic spy agency passed a recommendation to home affairs minister Tony Burke. The listing criminalises supporting, funding, training for, recruiting into, or joining the group, carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment.
Arguments before the court
Barristers Peter King and Shahed Sharify told the court on Tuesday that a blanket ban amounted to using a "sledgehammer on a nut". Sharify argued the law allows a single politician to make the banning decision based on opinion, with no judicial avenue to appeal, and suggested the power would be better placed with a judge than with a "busy minister who flicks through a brief and decides in two hours".
The lawyers also cited a landmark 1951 cold war-era high court ruling that struck down a ban on the Communist Party of Australia, arguing the commonwealth lacks the constitutional power to ban political parties outright.
Government's position
The government is expected to argue that White Australia is not a genuine political party but simply a rebranded continuation of the National Socialist Network, formed to give members legal cover for openly racist and antisemitic speech.
Party members, including leader Tom Sewell, sat in the public gallery during the hearing. Sewell, 33, was sentenced in June to a community corrections order for offensive public behaviour, after a magistrate found he had used racial slurs reminiscent of "Nazi thugs of 1930s Berlin" during a stunt outside a Chinese consulate.
