Neo-Nazi group's bid to register as political party heard in Australia's High Court

A neo-Nazi group will have its bid to pause its listing as an illegal hate group heard in Australia’s highest court next month as it seeks to register as a political party.

The White Australia party, also known as the National Socialist Network, and its president Thomas Sewell are challenging the government’s power to list it as a hate group under legislation passed by the commonwealth after the Bondi terror attack. The group is arguing the law is invalid on the grounds the legislation “burdens the freedom of governmental and political communication”.

The group is simultaneously seeking an interlocutory application to prevent the government using its powers under the act until the high court has made its judgment in the case.

In the first directions hearing before the high court on Thursday, barrister and former Liberal MP for Wentworth, Peter King, acted on behalf of the White Australia party and Sewell.

The group had made two interlocutory applications, one just hours before they were designated as a hate group last Friday, and a second on Monday. Justice Jayne Jagot said there was an “absence of compelling grounds” to deal with the first, dismissing it in court on Thursday.

“Mr Sewell had been on notice that the White Australia party was likely to be specified as a prohibited hate group,” Jagot told the court. “The circumstances on which the party relied for interlocutory relief … were of its own making.”

She added that commonwealth legislation was presumed to be valid “until held to be invalid”.

Jagot set a hearing for the interlocutory application between 2 June and 5 June, and said the constitutional challenge would be heard in the September sitting of the high court.

Guardian Australia understands the group had planned to contest the Victorian election in November before contesting the federal election in 2028, and was going to submit an application to the Victorian Electoral Commission if they were successful in their interlocutory application.

But on Wednesday, due to a little-known administrative change made under the Electoral Amendment Act 2026 in November, the deadline to register a political party in Victoria was moved forward by almost two months to 1 June.

Jagot noted the group had not attempted to register a party in Victoria, only at the commonwealth level.

Sewell swore in an affidavit on 15 May that the White Australia party and its members had planned to contest the Victorian state election, according to documents submitted to the court by the commonwealth.

The commonwealth noted the cutoff to register as a political party in Victoria was 31 July, and “it appears that the plaintiffs contend it is necessary for the matter to be heard and determined” prior to that date. It proposed bumping the matter to the federal court so it could be heard sooner, however noted this would leave the judgment open to appeal unlike those made in the high court.

On Thursday, King told the court he was instructed that the Victorian election deadline was “not critical”, despite Sewell’s initial affidavit.

He said the validity of the political party was more critical.

The neo-Nazi group has submitted an application to the Australian Electoral Commission to register as a political party, however it has been deemed invalid until the group reveals the identities of at least 1,500 members so that they can be verified.

The group said it plans to submit its membership details – and progress its application – pending the interlocutory application, with a spokesperson saying on Wednesday it did not want to “doxx” its members.