Flash Report: August is Active Month for Australian Far-Right
An Aug. 9 neo-Nazi rally in Melbourne and an Aug. 31 nationwide anti-immigration rally are keeping the Australian far-right busy
TLDR
An anti-immigration “March for Australia” is being organized for Aug. 31. The protest is being promoted on Telegram, TikTok, X, and other social media, and various Australian far-right groups have voiced support. This comes on the heels of a neo-Nazi rally in Melbourne on Aug 9, 2025.
Organizing
Plans for an Aug. 31, 2025, anti-immigration rally dubbed “March for Australia” are being circulated online. Demonstrations are being organized in nearly every Australian capital city.
News of the rally has been shared in various far-right and neo-Nazi spaces online, including Telegram channels for known Australian neo-Nazi groups such as the National Socialist Network (NSN) and the European Australian Movement (EAM).1 High-profile leaders of the extreme right have also boosted this call, among them Joel Davis and Thomas Sewell (per our previous research). The organizers for March for Australia, who have not publicly affiliated themselves with any movement, have also publicly distanced themselves from Sewell.2 3
All of this came on the back of the NSN’s “winter national summit” in the state of Victoria, which began with a march through Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) on Saturday, Aug 9 at 1:00 am.4 The rally, which saw individuals dressed in black with their faces covered and carrying a banner that read “white man fight back,” was the largest of its kind, according to its organizers. After the rally, NSN members gathered in the Victorian countryside all weekend for various other activities, including a powerlifting competition, music, and speeches.5
Context
According to The Noticer, a far-right Australian news outlet that we have previously reported on, the Aug. 31 rally comes in response to the burning of an Australian flag at a pro-Palestine protest in Melbourne on Aug. 3.6 7Flag burning is legal in Australia.8
Open Measures researchers consulted WHOIS data for the March for Australia website, [marchforaustralia[dot]org]. We found that the site was created on Aug. 8, 2025, just days after the flag burning incident.9 The site’s “About” section also includes a picture of someone holding a burning Australian flag, though the rest of the site does does not address it directly.
Why We’re Tracking
While the politics of the organizers of March for Australia are unknown, it is clear that the action has excited those on the Australian extreme right.
Some events with NSN members present have led to violence in the past. At the Aug. 9 rally in the Melbourne CBD, one man who confronted the marchers was allegedly assaulted, while over the weekend two members of the press who sought to report on the group’s weekend summit were likewise allegedly attacked.10
The former Telegram channel for the NSN was banned around Feb. 21, 2025,11 nearly a month after a Jan. 26 incident in which over a dozen NSN members were arrested on Australia Day for offenses such as failure to cease loitering and the display of Nazi symbols. The latest NSN Telegram channel was created on March 10. In the interest of public safety and preventing the spread of violence, Open Measures researchers will continue to monitor the NSN and other extremist movements.
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Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. (2022, Oct. 5). New report profiles far-right hate and extremist groups in Australia. Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.
March for Australia. (n.d.). March for Australia [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025.
Powell, C. (2025, Aug. 12). Anti-immigration protest ‘March for Australia’ planned for August 31. Daily Mail. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.
White, D., McMillan, A., & Morgan, C. (2025, Aug. 9). No place for hate as police escort neo-Nazis in early-morning march. The Age. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.
Dalziel, A., & Roulston, A. (2025, Aug. 9). Bacchus Marsh stands against neo-Nazi rally. The Courier. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.
The Noticer. (2025, Aug. 11). ‘March for Australia’ anti-immigration rallies planned nationwide in response to flag burning [Archived at Wayback Machine]. The Noticer. Retrieved Aug. 12, 2025. Here.
Kolovos, B. (2025, Aug. 4). Victoria police criticised for Gaza protest tactics while thousands marched ‘freely’ in Sydney. The Guardian. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.
Bond, C. (2017, March 3). Constitutional and community aspects of flag burning in Australia. Australian Public Law. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2025. Here.