The banner’s only other text was a link to the fledgling “White Australia Party” website, which is calling on people to join monthly meetings, “regular fitness, activism, ideological development and community events”.
The only image on the website is one of Sewell being handcuffed by a police officer.
The nascent party’s recruitment process, conducted through encrypted apps, informs prospective members that they will be joining the ranks of “open and proud Hitlerists”.
Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told a budget estimates hearing that neo-Nazis were holding routine meetups in Sydney’s suburbs, and were under constant police surveillance.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“His worldview is ours,” an information pack says.
“Our goal is for this continent to be possessed by the White race, and the White race alone.”
Last week, senior NSW Police officers revealed Sydney’s neo-Nazis were under surveillance by counter-terrorism squads.
“They are of such concern to us – the emergence of these groups and the rise of some individuals within these groups – that we have our Engagement and Hate Crime Unit and our counter-terrorism command and our State Intelligence group constantly monitoring the activities of these groups,” Acting Commissioner Peter Thurtell told a budget estimates hearing.
Thomas Sewell (left) and Jack Eltis (right) at a leadership meeting in December 2023.Credit:
“We have, obviously, investigations in place as required into some of these groups.”
The state’s top counter-terrorism police officer, Deputy Commissioner David Hudson, told the same hearing that neo-Nazis were meeting up to do star jumps as police watched on.
“They have training days in suburban areas in Sydney where they basically show up in their blacks and perform calisthenics with a high police presence. We do monitor them,” Hudson said.
“They declared themselves as a political party – White Australia – and that they were renouncing the National Socialist Network,” he said of the June rally.
“That hasn’t come to fruition.”
Hudson said it appeared that the group had failed, so far, to collect the 1500 members required to register the party with the Australian Electoral Commission.
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Victoria has a uniquely prominent neo-Nazi presence, police said, but its attempts to recruit in NSW seemed to be stalling.
“We don’t see the issues here in NSW like they do in Victoria, where the group emanated, but we are certainly mindful of them and monitor them,” Hudson said.
Police intercepted a group of neo-Nazis on Australia Day 2024 after they boarded North Shore Line trains bound for the CBD.
Officers had watched the group from a command centre, which can monitor the transit system in real time, and moved in before the fascists could reach their rendezvous point.
“We’ve been monitoring the National Socialist Network for some time, well before their behaviour at North Sydney on Australia Day last year,” Hudson said.
“We’re very much monitoring them and their affiliations with a similar group in Victoria, where they seem to be more high profile than they are here.”
Hudson said police were monitoring individuals using a four-tier “known entity management system”, which tracks their behaviour and alerts police to escalations.
But it’s not limited to neo-Nazis, Hudson said, pointing towards the murder of two police officers in Victoria allegedly at the hands of Sovereign Citizen Dezi Freeman.
“The divergence of the threats that we face in NSW and broader Australia are really diverging from the religious-based to different types of ideologies: far right, far left, mixed, and sovereign citizens,” Hudson said.
“It’s a very clouded threat picture out there for us at the moment but, luckily, they are limited numbers.
“We’ll continue to [track them], but it’s certainly a different environment in NSW and Australia than it was 10 years ago.”
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