A far-right neo-Nazi organization in Australia has hit a major regulatory barrier in its attempt to gain official political party status, with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) confirming the group’s application is invalid, as the organization prepares for a high-stakes constitutional challenge to its designation as a banned hate group.
The group, operating under the name The White Australia Party and also known as the National Socialist Network, was formally labeled a hate group just one week ago by Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. This designation came under new anti-hate legislation introduced in the wake of the deadly Bondi Beach terror attack, and the classification would criminalize group membership and any public or private support for the organization once fully enforced.
Group leader Thomas Sewell has confirmed that the organization has already lodged an appeal with the High Court of Australia, seeking to have the new hate designation legislation overturned on constitutional grounds. In a public video address earlier this year, Sewell claimed that the group had successfully submitted its registration for political party status to the AEC on April 25, a national public holiday in Australia marking Anzac Day.
But in a formal update issued Thursday, the AEC confirmed that the application cannot move forward in its current form. The core issue that derailed the bid is the group’s decision to redact the full names of its registered members. Under Australian electoral rules, all party members must be disclosed to the AEC, which reserves the right to contact individual members to verify the validity of the application.
The White Australia Party has refused to release its membership roll, stating it will not disclose members’ identities until the High Court issues a ruling on its constitutional challenge to the hate group designation.
Formal notification of the rejection will be delivered to the group after the writ for the upcoming Farrer by-election is returned, a deadline that falls no later than July 10. Australian electoral law prohibits the AEC from issuing formal approvals or rejections of party registration applications between the time a by-election or general election writ is issued and when it is formally returned, so the official decision has been delayed temporarily.
“The AEC’s preliminary view, which has been communicated to the applicant, is that the application does not contain the necessary elements to be valid,” an AEC spokesperson told NewsWire in a prepared statement. “The operation of s127 of the Electoral Act means a formal determination cannot be made until the return of the writ for the Farrer by-election. Once the writ is returned, the outcome of a formal assessment will be communicated to the applicant.”
The White Australia Party, which promotes white nationalist and neo-Nazi ideology, has been a source of ongoing public controversy in Australia for years. The group has organized multiple high-profile, disruptive public rallies across the country, including one staged outside the New South Wales state parliament building.
Sewell, the group’s leader, currently faces serious criminal charges including violent disorder and affray connected to an alleged physical attack on the Camp Sovereignty gathering in late 2023. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court of Victoria in November last year, and his criminal case remains ongoing.