A far-left senator has demanded the government list a nationalist group as terrorists after they held a peaceful Australia Day celebration in Adelaide.
About 70 unmasked members of the National Socialist Network (NSN) carried Australian flags, sang Waltzing Matilda and chanted “Australia for the White man, the rest must go” as they walked towards the CBD, but were blocked by police protecting an anti-Australian “survival day” march.
Leader Thomas Sewell was arrested as he started to make a speech in front of the National War Memorial, and police later arrested 15 others. All were charged and refused bail to appear in court on Tuesday, sparking accusations of two-tier policing.
Mr Sewell was charged with “fail to cease loiter” along with seven other men, seven more were charged with “possess article of disguise”, and one was charged with assault police. One was also charged with use Nazi symbol, and another was charged with refuse name and address.
🚨BREAKING: Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is calling on the Federal Government to list the National Socialist Network (NSN) as a listed terrorist organisation after they celebrated Australia Day in Adelaide. pic.twitter.com/owGVRBZC45
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) January 27, 2025
On Monday Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young reacted to the march by saying the NSN should be declared a terrorist organisation by the federal government.
“They of course came to Adelaide to inflict, and intimidate, fear and terror,” she told reporters.
“We need to government to take it seriously, and to consider all options, including whether they should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
“What we saw on the streets of Adelaide was sickening, and terrifying.”
Video obtained by Noticer News shows nationalist activist Thomas Sewell being arrested seconds into a speech in front of the National War Memorial in Adelaide today.
“I am under arrest for celebrating Australia Day”, he says as police handcuff him. pic.twitter.com/Ac6unpgmTQ— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) January 26, 2025
Members of the National Socialist Network sing Waltzing Matilda as they march through the Adelaide CBD on Australia Day.
Police later made multiple arrests. pic.twitter.com/czRIgdWKsX
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) January 26, 2025
(Supplied)
(Supplied)
Many Australians objected to her statements, pointing out that the right-wing activist group had not been violent, and asking why she was not condemning “invasion day” protesters with antiwhite and anti-Australian signs, or far-left extremist statue vandalism.
Left-wing extremists defaced statues and monuments in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat and Canberra in the lead-up to Australia Day, but no arrests have been made.
“And yet others can march with White hate signs, terrorist flags, burn our national flag, vandalise White Australia statues and get away with it. Honestly,” wrote one X user.
“Meanwhile people marching with signs saying ‘Death to Australia’ and ‘Watch out whites’ and damaging Anzac, police and Cook memorials. but yeah, these guys were all sorts of crazy today. How dare they sing Aussie songs and wave the national flag. How dare they,” said another.
“I’m not a fan, but waving the Australian flag and singing is hardly illegal the last time I looked. I noticed Sarah Hanson-Young again fails to include those other groups who have been violent in their protests,” said a third.
pic.twitter.com/YsFZt7gJmD
— Rosita Díaz (@RositaDaz48) January 27, 2025
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the nationalist group and applauded the police for breaking up their Australia Day event.
“They were horrific scenes yesterday, to have people openly identifying as neo-Nazis and fascists, white supremacists marching through our streets,” he said.
“There is no place for this hateful ideology here in Australia or indeed anywhere else.”
Mr Albanese was speaking from Perth where he joined Opposition leader Peter Dutton at a memorial service for Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Jewish Community Centre in Yokine, where both leaders pledged $2 million in funding for “holocaust education”.
“White people are an invasive species”
Naarm / Melbourne
Invasion Day rally. pic.twitter.com/qxtDzkkTEX— Kenji the Orthodox Heretic (@kwardenclyffe) January 26, 2025
“We just want to celebrate Australia Day, but we’re not allowed to,” nationalist activist Joel Davis, who led the group away from the war memorial after Mr Sewell’s arrest, told reporters at the scene.
“This is Australia 2025, what a joke.”
Mr Davis said police also seized the group’s banner, which said “Happy White Australia Day”, and megaphone, and prevented them from entering the CBD on multiple occasions to keep them away from the government-approved aboriginal protest.
“According to the South Australian government, celebrating Australia Day is illegal but the whole centre of the city has been shut down to accommodate an anti-Australian ‘Invasion Day’ protest. Outrageous!” he wrote on social media.
Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets for Adelaide’s Survival Day march from Victoria Square. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/Do2SdKN7Fg
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) January 26, 2025
The City of Adelaide did not hold an Australia Day celebration this year, instead hosting an event for far-left indigenous activists called Mourning in the Morning where attendees were allowed to display the anti-Australian and ahistorical slogan “always was, always will be” and waved aboriginal flags.
Last week South Australia Police prevented at least nine members of the local chapter of the NSN from attending the rally by charging them with “carrying an article of disguise” over a protest earlier this month where they unfurled a banner saying “mass deportations now”.
They were given strict bail conditions preventing them from entering the CBD, contacting other members of the group, hiding their identities at protests and wearing NSN or associated political insignia.
