Minns Condemns neo-Nazi rally: Calls Residents to reject neo-nazis - Community Leaders ask all to reject hatred, division, extremism
A neo-Nazi demonstration targeting Jewish people in Sydney on Saturday morning was authorised - the group had filled out a ‘Form 1’, notice of intention to hold a public assembly, which had not been opposed by police.
Under the Summary Offences Act (specifically in NSW), a public assembly is "authorised" if a notice of intention has been served on the Commissioner of Police at least seven days before the event and a court has not prohibited it. If the notice is given less than seven days in advance, a court must authorise it. Being authorised protects participants from charges for offenses like unlawful assembly or obstructing a person or vehicle.
NSW police commissioner Mal Lanyon said neither he, nor the Premier, personally knew it was taking place.
“They indicated that approximately 50 people would be attending that protest,” Mr. Lanyon said during a press conference. “The purpose for conducting the protest was said to be a protest against the Jewish lobby groups but also the current hate speech laws. The government had not been briefed on this process. There was a communication error in the police force f[in that] I did not personally know that today’s protest was taking place. Accordingly, I had not briefed the Minister of Police.”
The rally was approved despite laws which came into effect on 15 August, making it a crime to intentionally incite hatred against people because of their race, nationality, or ethno-religious background.
The Crimes Amendment (Inciting Racial Hatred) Bill 2025, was drafted to address recent instances of anti-Semitic conduct and hate speech, and makes clear that inciting racial hatred against anyone has no place in NSW.
The legislation makes it a crime to intentionally and publicly incite hatred towards another person, or group of people, on the grounds of race. The bill established a new section, 93ZAA of the Crimes Act 1900, with a maximum penalty for an individual of two years’ imprisonment, fines of up to $11,000, or both, while corporations can face fines of $55,000.
The proposed offence has the following elements:
- It must be a public act;
- The public act must incite hatred;
- The incitement to hatred must be intentional; and
- The intentional incitement to hatred must be on the basis of race.
To ensure the implied freedom of political communication is protected, the new offences were drafted to apply to specific conduct.
Criminalising the incitement of racial hatred was the latest measure taken by the NSW Government to respond to acts of racial violence and hatred. Other actions include:
- Introducing a new offence in the Crimes Act to ensure people of faith can attend their place of worship in safety and provide police with associated move on powers;
- Introducing a new offence in 93ZA of the Crimes Act directed to the display of a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue or place of worship, Jewish school or the Sydney Jewish Museum;
- Amending existing graffiti offences to make it an aggravated offence to graffiti a place of worship; and
- Ensuring that hatred or prejudice as motive for an offence will be an aggravating factor on sentence regardless of the presence of other motives.
The Minns Government also increased funding for the NSW Engagement and Hate Crime Unit, the Safe Places for Faith Communities Grants (led by Multicultural NSW), and the NSW Local Government Social Cohesion Grants Program.
Around 60 members of a neo-Nazi group stood in rows on Macquarie Street outside NSW parliament on Saturday morning, bearing a large banner that read “Abolish the Jewish Lobby”. They wore black uniforms, with some obscuring their faces while others seemed unworried about being filmed or identified.
Speakers on loudhailers repeated a number of anti-Semitic tropes and made false claims about attacks that have occurred against Jewish sites in Australia.
The speakers also condemned multiculturalism, the mainstream media and governments they accused of duplicity, corruption, and being manipulated by “ethnic lobbies”.
The demonstration lasted around 20 minutes according to police.
On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Minns said the process that allowed the rally to go ahead would be reviewed.
He said it was “of course, concerning” that the rally was approved to go ahead. “If we had our time again, that rally wouldn’t have taken place. It’s obviously shameful that these people feel that they have the right to demonstrate in such a despicable way, spewing division and racism on the streets of Sydney,” the premier said.
Premier Minns called on all NSW residents to meet racism with the opposite.
''I want these pissants to be met with a clear and unambiguous message from the Government, from political leaders, from civic life, from average New South Wales residents, that we've got no interest in neo-Nazis in Sydney and in Australia.'' he stated
Mr. Minns continued, ”One of the disgusting things, as it was reported to me from one of the speeches, was that the Anzacs were invoked by one of the speakers at a neo-Nazi rally. I mean, the complete whitewashing of history. NSW and Australian soldiers fought the Nazis. They stood up to fascism and to try and rewrite history to justify these deplorable disgusting behaviour on Sydney streets. It’s shameful. It’s absolutely shameful.
“The truth of the matter is, racism by Neo-Nazis won’t just stop with the Jewish community. We have seen attacks on the Indian community in NSW, on the Islamic community in NSW. They’re not going to stop unless they’re confronted with an overwhelming public sentiment against their hatred.”
The NSW Greens also condemned the neo-Nazi rally outside New South Wales Parliament on Saturday November 8, and called for a new approach following comments from Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Premier Chris Minns.
Greens MP, Solicitor and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said “The Greens abhor anti-Semitism and racism and I was sickened to see neo-Nazis outside the NSW Parliament today. The Greens condemn the actions and the rhetoric of these depraved racists. The Jewish Community and people of colour in our State should not be subjected to this on our streets or newsfeeds,”
“Since the horrifying March for Australia I have been calling for an escalation of government resources to confront rising far-right extremism. We know that stronger anti-discrimination laws, increased education, and truth-telling is the way to stop vile racism before it starts,”
“I am deeply concerned about the way the police are administering the form 1 protest authorisation system. How can they justify not challenging a rally for neo-Nazis to engage in antisemitism, but relentlessly challenging peaceful protests calling for a free Palestine? It’s one thing for the new Commissioner to say he didn’t know about the event, but how the heck do we not have lower ranking police officers making the right call on these matters?
“It’s time to set up a taskforce to work with the NSW Police Engagement and Hate Crime Unit and the counter-terrorism command and deal with the rise of the far-right and racism in this State head on,” Ms Higginson said.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said, “It’s tempting to ignore the vile demonstration which was held today and avoid giving these dangerous neo-Nazis the attention they crave. But evil left unconfronted becomes evil that is normalised. The chilling images and despicable words of hate which were uttered today should never find a home or be accepted in our society, especially outside the heart of our democracy.
“We welcome the swift response from the Government and NSW Police in both examining how this hateful rally took place outside Parliament without objection from Police and making sure that this is avoided in the future. Today’s rally should also be carefully assessed to determine if any laws have been broken. We are living in a perilous time and all people of goodwill need to use this moment to take a stand and reject the hatred, division and extremism which is proliferating in our society.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said on social media, “Conspiracy theories about Jewish control of politics are more prevalent now than at any time in the past 80 years. They are common to all extremist ideologies from far left to far right. Neo-Nazis are adept at identifying the grievances and prejudices that are taking hold in a society and manipulating this for their evil purposes.
“To defeat this, our law enforcement and security agencies need the right legislative tools to monitor and disrupt violent extremists and to prevent them from menacing or physically harming peaceful Australians.
But the single most important thing we must do is to restore decency, civility and basic rationalism to our country which would instantly remove any appeal of movements founded in pathetic ideas of overthrowing democracy and racial hierarchies,” Mr. Ryvchin said.
Member for Vaucluse Kellie Sloane MP said on X, “Time to test our new incitement to hatred laws. These thugs should be locked up. They are a threat not only to our Jewish community who were the targets of today’s chilling display, but to broader multicultural NSW.”
Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender said, “The Neo-Nazi demonstration today is appalling. This group is seeking to spread vile hatred against Jewish people and undermine our great Australian multiculturalism. The use of a Hitler Youth slogan is chilling. I have spoken to the NSW Police Minister and urge the NSW government and police to look at all prosecution options under the hate speech legislation.”
“...to the Jewish community, I know this is frightening but these are extremists, they do not speak for our country. All Australians have a responsibility to stand up strongly against racism against any group. This is not just an attack on Jewish people, it is an attack on all of us,” Ms Spender said.