Image at right: Groups of either self-styled or accused Fascist groups have proliferated since the end of World War 2, with Australia hosting its fair share. Even before that, in 1932, a sword-wielding representative of a right-wing organisation called the New Guard invaded the official opening of the Sydney Harbour bridge, cutting the ribbon ahead of the NSW Premier of the day.
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Background information
The information below is an abbreviated version of two Wikipedia entries - 'Nazi salute' and 'Far-right politics in Australia.' The full texts can be accessed at
and The Nazi salute
The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute or the Sieg Heil salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened hand. Usually, the person offering the salute would say 'Heil Hitler!' or 'Sieg Heil!' It was adopted in the 1930s by the Nazi Party to signal obedience to the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, and to glorify the German nation (and later the German war effort). The salute was mandatory for civilians but mostly optional for military personnel, who retained a traditional military salute until the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944.
Use of this salute is illegal in modern-day Germany and Austria and is also considered a criminal offence in modern-day Poland and Slovakia. The use of any Nazi phrases associated with the salute is also forbidden. In Italy, it is a criminal offence only if used with the intent to 'reinstate the defunct National Fascist Party', or to exalt or promote its ideology or members. In Canada and most of Europe (including the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Russia), displaying the salute is not in itself a criminal offence, but constitutes hate speech if used for propagating the Nazi ideology.
Far-right extremists in Australia
In Australia, the far-right first came to public attention with the formation in 1931 of the New Guard in Sydney and its offshoot, the Centre Party in 1933. These proto-fascist groups were monarchist, anti-communist, and authoritarian. These early far-right groups were followed by the explicitly fascist Australia First Movement (1941). Far-right groups and individuals in Australia went on to adopt more explicitly racial positions during the 1960s and 1970s, morphing into self-proclaimed Nazi, fascist and anti-Semitic movements, organisations that opposed non-white and non-Christian immigration, such as the neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of Australia (1967) and the militant white supremacist group National Action (Australia) (1982).
Since the 1980s, the term has mainly been used to describe those who advocate for preservation of what they perceive to be Christian Anglo-Australian culture, and those who campaign against Aboriginal land rights, multiculturalism, immigration and asylum seekers. Since 2001, Australia has seen the formation of several neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist or alt-right groups such as the True Blue Crew, the United Patriots Front, Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party and the Antipodean Resistance, and others.