Female MPs subjected to rape, death threats after Nazi rally

3 months ago 20

Two Sydney female politicians have been subjected to threats of death and serious violence after NSW Police allowed a neo-Nazi rally to take place on the steps of state parliament on Saturday.

Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender have both referred threats they’ve received to NSW Police after they spoke out against the group of men protesting against the “Jewish lobby”.

ABC Radio Sydney’s Hamish Macdonald said posts on Telegram and X threatened the two politicians with sexual violence and death. Sloane has now deleted her X account.

“I won’t stop speaking up when I am calling out this kind of behaviour,” Sloane said.

Liberal MP Kellie Sloane has slammed the NSW government’s handling of a Nazi rally in Sydney

“It’s revolting. And no public figure, no person, whether they’re a public figure or an individual, should be subjected to this kind of vile abuse.”

About 60 members of the National Socialist Network (NSN) attended Saturday’s rally, which began at 10am and included a large banner that read “Abolish the Jewish Lobby”.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon on Monday said a notice of the NSN’s intention to hold the rally – made by a known leader of the group, with the stated purpose of criticising Jewish organisations – was first lodged with Sydney City Local Area Command on October 28.

Attendees wore dark uniforms with the NSN insignia stitched into the shoulders of their jackets. Some partially obscured their identities with hats or sunglasses. Many showed their faces, a sign of growing boldness by parts of the organisation.

Two NSN leaders spoke, criticising not only Jewish groups but Jewish people in general. They used a number of antisemitic tropes about power and influence while speaking in favour of authority of “the white man”. One speaker promoted a highly offensive and baseless claim about antisemitic attacks carried out this year, which this masthead has chosen not to repeat.

Premier Chris Minns said he did not know how the rally was held with approval from police.

“I don’t know the circumstances of how that march or protest was approved. I know the NSW Police commissioner wasn’t aware of it, and he’s looking at it, holding an inquiry into those circumstances so that it doesn’t happen again,” Minns said on Nine’s Today show.

Lanyon said a communication error was to blame for the Nazi rally.

“There was an internal communication error,” he said on Nine’s Today show. “We have protests each year. This year so far, we’ve already managed over 1000 protests. Last year, we had over 1500.

“From time to time, matters aren’t briefed up. They were certainly aware of it within the police force, and an appropriate policing response was planned for the weekend.”

When asked by Today’s Karl Stefanovic whether police should’ve issued move-on orders to protesters, Lanyon said they couldn’t as protesters were there legally.

“Once the protest is authorised, they’re entitled to be there,” he said. “We would take action [if they] actually infringed on the law.”

Lanyon said that he would challenge any further protest by the group in the NSW Supreme Court.

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