Australia’s most prominent neo-Nazi groups will be disbanded within a week as the federal government announces new hate speech laws following the Bondi terrorist attack.
The National Socialist Network announced in a Telegram post on Tuesday that it will close as an organization to prevent former and current members from being prosecuted for recruiting people to spread racial hatred.
The dissolution will also apply to affiliated groups White Australia, the European Australian Movement and the White Australia Party.
Fears that members could be targeted for performing Nazi or ‘Roman’ salutes were other reasons given for the hasty phase-out.
The legislation, which will be debated in parliament next week, would give the federal government the power to prescribe hate groups that currently fall below the terrorist thresholds.
“The National Socialist Network will be completely dissolved before Sunday, January 18, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.,” the group said in the Telegram post.
“If the laws are passed, there will be no way to prevent the organization from being banned.”
Organizers, supporters and recruiters of listed groups face 15 years in prison under the proposed laws, while members face seven years in prison.
Spreading ideas of superiority over or hatred towards another person or group because of their race, color or national and ethnic origin is also a crime.
The dissolution is likely to be a fatal blow to the group’s chances of gaining mainstream political recognition, after the White Australia Party previously announced it had gained enough members to form a registered party.
“We are pleased to announce that we have received more than 1,500 applications to join our White Australia Party (Federal) project,” NSW Leader Jack Eltis said on November 21.
Home Secretary Tony Burke has said that while news of the National Socialist Network’s dissolution was welcome, the fight against bigotry “never ends”.
“The individuals will still try to find ways to spread hatred and we will continue to deport people and disband organizations that hate Australia,” he said as reported by ABC News.
ASIO chief says ‘problematic’ individuals will continue to be monitored
Federal laws are being quickly implemented in response to the Bondi attack, but other jurisdictions were already cracking down on the activities of the National Socialist Network.
The leader of the group Thomas Sewell is charged in relation to two incidents in August, including allegedly leading a group attack on a sacred First Nations site in Melbourne, where several people were attacked.
Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), told a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday that his agency has considered how to respond to the dissolution of neo-Nazi groups.
“Of course the individuals do not cease to exist, they are still there in society, and of course we will continue to monitor the problematic individuals if they remain problematic,” he said.
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