Framing the Australian extreme right: proposing a threefold typology with consideration of legislation and listing regulations

ABSTRACT

The contemporary extreme right is home to diverse milieus, some of which challenge or confuse stereotypical understandings of the threat. This study seeks to describe and organise the different milieus of the Australian extreme right into a typology based on the past decade of observable violent activities. The typology proposes a threefold way to view the Australian extreme right: 1. ethnocentric milieus, who asymmetrically evaluate other peoples and cultures, commonly informed by abstractions and preconceptions, especially as related to religion or ethnicity; 2. anti-government milieus, who fixate on the government and its policies as the primary source of societal woes; and 3. religious milieus, spanning numerous religious traditions and faiths, who anchor their worldviews in theological constructions. Having developed this typology, we revisited counteractions anchored in international practice and domestic legislation. We suggest that the existing domestic legislative environment is sufficient to manage these threats when informed by international practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Australia
• extreme right
• typology
• listing
• legislation
• proscription
• anti-government
• religious

Disclosure statement

Part of this paper was contained within a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s Inquiry into Extremist Movements and Radicalism in Australia in January 2021 and the Victorian Legislative Council’s Legal and Social issue Committees Inquiry into Extremism in Victoria in June 2022.

Notes

1 One study also examined a dated Odinist website but was not useful for this review, given its omission of Odinist violence in Australia.