Australia bans neo-Nazi network under new law that criminalizes hate groups

Australia identifies a neo-Nazi network as the second organization being banned under its new law criminalizing hate groups and support for them.

The group, formerly known as the National Socialist Network and sometimes called White Australia, said it would disband after the government in January passed the law allowing certain organizations to be banned.

The law was in response to the antisemitic attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December 2025, in which 15 people were killed.

The National Socialist Network “changed their name, but didn’t change the fact that they were still an organization and were still engaging in the same sort of behavior that met the thresholds for this legislation,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke tells reporters in Canberra.

The ban, which will take effect later today, makes it illegal to support, fund, train, recruit, join or direct the group, including if it was reformed under a new name, Burke said. Breaking the law is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.