Key facts
- Lawyers for the White Australia party argued anti-hate laws are authoritarian and breach the constitution.
- The party was designated an illegal hate group in May following a recommendation from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation.
- Challenging the ban, lawyers cited the implied freedom of political communication and separation of powers.
- The government argues the group is not a political party but a rebranded entity seeking protection for racist speech.
Lawyers for the outlawed White Australia party, formerly known as the National Socialist Network, have argued in the high court that anti-hate laws used to ban the group are "authoritarian in nature" and breach the constitution. The party was designated an illegal hate group in May after the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation recommended its prohibition to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. The ban carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for supporting, funding, training, recruiting, or joining the group.
The party's legal challenge centres on two main arguments: that the law breaches the implied freedom of political communication and that handing the decision to ban a group to a minister, rather than a judge, violates the separation of powers. Barristers Peter King and Shahed Sharify argued that a total ban is akin to using a "sledgehammer on a nut" and that the law could be used to ban any political party. They contended that a politician's opinion, without judicial fairness or an avenue for appeal, is an inappropriate basis for such a decision.
The government, in its written submissions, is expected to defend the laws by arguing that the White Australia party is not a genuine political party but a rebranded entity of the National Socialist Network, seeking legal protection for its members' "openly racist and anti-Semitic speech." Members of the party, including its leader Tom Sewell, were present in court. Sewell was previously sentenced for behaving offensively in public, with a magistrate finding he emulated "Nazi thugs of 1930s Berlin" during a stunt outside a Chinese consulate.