A trove of leaked private messages has stripped away the myth that Australia’s far-right is a homegrown nuisance. In reality, it is plugged directly into a global network of violent Neo-Nazi organisations — borrowing tactics, propaganda, and even recruitment scripts from banned terror groups overseas.
At the heart of this network is the National Socialist Network (NSN), now Australia’s largest extremist outfit. Its leaders, Thomas Sewell and Jacob Hersant, pose as “activists,” but the cache shows how their movement has imitated UK’s banned National Action and America’s Atomwaffen Division, both of which are legally designated terrorist organisations. The irony? Australia bans their mentors but lets their local disciples march free, even after assaults on First Nations protesters in Melbourne left people injured.
The leaked chats from the infamous Iron March forum reveal how Australians once boasted of creating a “National Action equivalent” in Melbourne. Some even met directly with National Action leaders in Liverpool and sought tactical advice about escaping Antifa after staging propaganda stunts. At least one was in contact with Brandon Russell, the Florida founder of Atomwaffen, later jailed for plotting attacks on U.S. infrastructure.
What began as cosplay fascism — stickers, graffiti, black-clad marches — has escalated into real violence. And yet, unlike their overseas counterparts, no Australian group has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation. This gap has left multicultural communities exposed. As one community leader bluntly put it: “Their aim is to terrorise people that don’t agree with them and do not look like them.”
Australia’s security services are quick to warn about Islamist extremism but still hesitate when the terrorists are white, loud, and draped in Nazi symbols. ASIO admits the threat is rising, but stresses the danger lies with “fringe actors” — the lone wolves emboldened by group rhetoric but not directly ordered to act. That distinction may comfort Canberra’s lawyers, but it does nothing for people abused at rallies, or families driven into fear after watching Neo-Nazis assault protesters under police noses.
The irony is thick: Australia declares “Terrorgram” and Atomwaffen as terrorist organisations, then ignores the clones operating on its own soil. If the UK could jail National Action’s leaders, why does Australia still allow the NSN to storm protests, run propaganda drives, and seek legitimacy as a “political movement”?
The leaked records are a warning: Australia’s far-right is not an isolated problem. It is the southern chapter of a global Neo-Nazi franchise. And every time authorities hesitate to act, they give space for imported hate to harden into homegrown terror.
