Former Neighbours actor Damien Richardson has been sentenced to a restorative justice program after making a Nazi gesture at a Melbourne event in 2024 that Neo-Nazis were attending.
Richardson was speaking at the event at a restaurant hosted by the National Workers Alliance, a group that stands for "the preservation of Western culture and identity".
Neo-Nazis from the National Socialist Network were also in the crowd.
Richardson was found guilty of the offence in November after he intentionally raised his right hand during the speech and said, "Am I gonna be fined now? I'm going to go jail for five years?"
Under Victorian laws introduced in 2023, it is illegal to make a Nazi salute in public or display Nazi symbols in most scenarios.
During sentencing at the Moorabbin Magistrates Court on Friday morning and in front of a courtroom packed with his supporters, Magistrate Justin Foster said Richardson knew the gesture was illegal and did it anyway.
"It is concerning when you listen to that event where there are people laughing, clapping and cheering you on," he said.
"The Jews are getting slammed from the left and the right and it's time it stopped.
"The Jews aren't the enemy, they are good law-abiding Australians trying to get along with their lives and should be left alone."
Magistrate Foster also said if Richardson had been found to show allegiance, affiliation, obedience or loyalty with Nazis or to Adolf Hitler he would not have hesitated in sending him to prison.
It had previously been accepted by the court that Richardson's gesture was in response to an article written about him by The Age newspaper.
In a matter heard just before Richardson's, Magistrate Foster sentenced a man to a month in prison for leaving a threatening and expletive-laden phone message to a Jewish businessman.
"It really is disappointing you [Richardson] weren't here where I sent a person to jail for threatening a Jewish businessman [earlier], it was disgusting," he said.
'Education' included as part of sentence
A five-point restorative justice program was put forward by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and was described by the magistrate as being "about education … not punishment."
Richardson, at the start of December, had been told to consult with the ECAJ about what that might look like.
At the time Magistrate Foster suggested it would involve education about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
The program, agreed to by Richardson on Friday, includes an apology to the Australian Jewish people, a day shadowing a member of ECAJ, 10 sessions of structured psychological therapy, education, visits to Melbourne's Jewish Museum and Holocaust Museum and not repeating the behaviour.
Richardson's lawyer Peter Monagle told the court his client regretted the pain, hurt and suffering caused and he was in "no way a Holocaust denier".
He also said the actor has been shunned from his profession because of the matter.
"Given the vile attacks on the Australian Jewish community at Bondi Beach last Sunday I sincerely extend my heartfelt condolences and sympathies to all Australians who were exposed to the horror, in particular to the 15 families and friends of those who were killed and injured, and to those suffering trauma this week, as does Mr Richardson," Mr Monagle said.
"He never intended to malign the Jewish community in Australia."
The sentencing comes as the federal government plans sweeping reforms to clamp down on antisemitism, in the wake of the deadly Bondi terror attack.
Judge left frustrated by social media post
Richardson was also lashed by Magistrate Foster, who became visibly frustrated, over a "cutesy" social media post on November 30 on X (formerly Twitter) just weeks after he was found guilty of the offence, criticising the verdict.
"A magistrate found that I did not perform a Nazi salute when mocking the gesture in rebuttal to an article in the age vilifying me as a Nazi. However, he still found me guilty? Wtf," the post read.
The magistrate said he had only recently become aware of the X post and questioned whether Richardson was in fact sorry for what he did.
"Here I am bending over backwards to give a restorative justice outcome so that he understands what he did is offensive to the Jewish community and yet he's still playing this sort of cutesy game online," Magistrate Foster said.
"I accept that he's sorry but to his fans [and] to the internet he is portraying he has been hard done by.
"A very stupid thing to do when sentencing is about to take place."
He has also recorded a conviction for the offence.
