Neo-Nazi music festival Melbourne: White supremacists gather

Propaganda attached to the secret concert to be held at an undisclosed location somewhere in Melbourne asks would-be attendees to get in touch with their local branches for details.

The event is being organised by two neo-Nazi groups — the Southern Cross Hammerskins and Blood & Honour Australia.

The Southern Cross Hammerskins are Australia’s branch of the Hammerskin Nation Network and Blood & Honour has branches in a number of countries and were labelled a terrorist organisation by Canada earlier this year.

Blood & Honour is publicising the event on its website — a site that warns visitors not to enter if they are easily offended.

“Blood & Honour Australia is part of an international community of White Racialists, promoting the cause of White Resistance through the powerful medium of music,” the website declares.

“We believe there is a need to provide White youth with an alternative to the ‘hip-hop’ culture so eagerly promoted by the Zionist controlled media.”

The event, which has been run for several years, has attracted widespread criticism. A petition, signed by more than 28,000 people, was handed to the State Government by activist group GetUp earlier this week.

But Premier Daniel Andrews said he could do nothing to stop the festival going ahead because of a “deficiency in the law”.

“Now we need to deal with that, but in the interim we need to call this out as a hateful event,” he said.

The Anti-Defamation Commission’s Dvir Abramovich said the festival was how the group reaches people with its hateful messages.

“These types of gatherings are often used as an effective tool by racist extremists to inspire and recruit people for their warped cause,” he told the ABC.

“When you look at the recent massacres in Christchurch, Santiago, Pittsburgh and El Paso, there is a direct link between words, incitement and mass shootings.”

Human rights campaign director for GetUp!, Shen Narayanasamy, told 3AW’s Tom Elliot that bands would use the platform to encourage the killing of Jews and Muslims.

“These groups are actually linked to international neo-Nazi organisations and they have been banned in other countries because, as often happens with these kinds of groups, words have moved to actual bullets, violence and hatred and actual murder of innocent people,” she said.

Victoria’s Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said the Government was planning to make a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into anti-vilification protections.

The festival follows disturbing revelations about two separate events in Melbourne schools where Jewish students were targeted.

On one occasion, a young boy was forced to kiss the shoe of another student while others filmed with their phones.

On a separate occasion, a five-year-old boy was allegedly called a “Jewish cockroach” by classmates.