Canberra Man Pleads Guilty to Nazi Salutes and White Supremacist Vandalism

A Canberra man has pleaded guilty after performing Nazi salutes at two suburban shopping centres and placing white supremacist stickers over Indigenous and multicultural signs at the Australian National University (ANU).

WARNING: This story contains offensive content.

Zachery James Hook, 19, pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to making a Nazi salute in public between October and December last year, and behaving offensively on Commonwealth premises between August and September.

The then 18-year-old was initially charged with six offences after a joint police operation, including investigators from the National Security Investigations team, raided his Weston home on Christmas Eve.

Four of the charges were withdrawn following the guilty pleas.

Stickers targeted First Nations students, court documents say

According to court documents, Hook went to the ANU campus twice in August and September 2025 carrying stickers bearing slogans including "National Socialist Network", "Australia for the white man" and "White revolution is the only solution".

The National Socialist Network is a Neo-Nazi group that was banned earlier this year under the Australian government's hate speech laws.

He placed the stickers over signs for the Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre, a support and gathering space for First Nations students and staff, as well as on a cabinet and door inside the university's Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) department building.

The agreed facts state that one sticker advocating that Australia should belong to "the White Man" was placed over a poster encouraging multiculturalism and cultural appreciation, and on a collage promoting themes of decolonisation and the experiences of First Peoples.

The agreed facts also outlined two separate occasions on which Hook performed a Nazi salute in public.

On October 5, Hook put up a poster reading "White Man Fight Back" at the O'Connor shops.

After members of the public removed the poster as well as another from a nearby bus stop, Hook confronted one woman and asked why she was taking them down.

"It's not scary, it's just people loving their own kind", Hook told her.

As he walked away, Hook stopped, performed a Nazi salute and used an anti-Semitic slogan.

ACT politician approached at Canberra shops

On December 12, Hook approached ACT Labor MLA Caitlin Tough at the Chisholm shops after recognising her from social media and attempted to engage her in a discussion about multiculturalism.

After she tried to end the conversation, the agreed facts state Hook performed a Nazi salute and repeatedly used an offensive slogan.

The prosecution said Hook's conduct involved "the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or racial hatred".

The court heard the Nazi salute offence carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, but a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 months' imprisonment.

However, the sentence can be served in the community through an intensive corrections order.

Defence lawyer Sam Collett told the court Hook had no prior criminal history and would be assessed for an intensive corrections order.

Hook remains on bail and will return to court for sentence in September.