Senior neo-Nazi may face deportation to South Africa after parliament rally

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A senior member of the neo-Nazi group that held an anti-Jewish protest outside of state parliament could face deportation back to his native South Africa, at the same time as NSW’s top bureaucrat has warned public servants who express white supremacist views face being sacked.

The Herald can reveal officials in the Department of Home Affairs are preparing a brief for the Albanese government to consider the visa of Matthew Gruter, one of the 60-odd black clad neo-Nazis who staged a made-for-social-media rally outside parliament last Saturday.

Matthew Gruter, who attended Saturday’s neo-Nazi rally, works for a major engineering firm that has held contracts with the Australian Defence Department and NSW government.

It comes after the Herald revealed on Thursday that Gruter, a senior member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network in NSW, was a South African national who had been in Australia with his influencer wife for about three years.

The purpose of the brief, which could go before ministers as early as Monday, is to consider the status of his visa.

Gruter, a civil engineer who was employed with multinational company Aurecon, had been photographed leading National Socialist Network (NSN) training sessions and had been spotted wearing the silver wristband reserved for the group’s leaders in photographs with his pregnant wife.

The wristband is inscribed with the words “blood and honour”, a slogan associated with the Hitler Youth.

While no decision has been made on Gruter’s visa, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has previously outlined a tougher approach than his predecessors in allowing foreign nationals who were “inciting discord”.

He has spoken out about blocking visas for potentially divisive visitors, including right-wing podcaster Candace Owens and rapper Kanye West. He has also refused visas to former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked.

“I really don’t care about receiving criticisms on freedom of speech. Like, do not care,” Burke told this masthead in August.

“People who live here have rights to freedom of speech within Australia, [but] we get to choose if someone’s coming here with the intention of … inciting discord.”

When the Herald contacted Gruter last week about his involvement in the rally he responded: “Since when is loving and advocating for your own People [sic] a crime?”

Separately, NSW’s most senior bureaucrat has warned public servants that publicly espousing Nazi views could result in them being fired, saying it was “simply inconsistent with our job” to express hostility or incite hatred against sections of the community.

Simon Draper, the secretary of the NSW Premier’s Department, sent a missive to the state’s approximately 460,000 public servants after the Herald revealed at least one government employee was among the group of neo-Nazis who rallied outside parliament.

Warning the public service could not allow its reputation to be “sullied by the hateful actions of a few”, Draper indicated publicly expressing views aligned to Nazism or white supremacy would end in termination.

“The NSW Public Service is as wide and varied as our community. Naturally we do not seek to regulate the private thoughts and opinions of our people, even those most odious to any reasonable person,” he wrote.

“However, we do insist that public servants serve the public. It’s in the title. And we mean all members of our community. It is simply inconsistent with our job to publicly express hostility or hatred toward some sections of our community.”

Draper’s message followed the Herald’s report confirming one NSN member who took part in the rally was a Sydney Trains employee.

Cooper Stephens was on Thursday was stood down from his job as a train guard while the agency investigated his involvement in the rally.

Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, welcomed Draper’s intervention, saying “no Australian should be expected to work alongside such a person”.

“Nazism is not a point of view or a political movement. It is the treasonous worship of genocide and race war. It cannot be normalised in any segment of our society,” he said.

“Employers have a duty to their staff and to the public and protecting them from contact with those who support the murder or deportation of those deemed non-white is a part of that duty.”

Stephens, based in south-west Sydney, works as a train guard for the state government agency. He was based in a depot with a large multicultural staff contingent, sources have told the Herald.

In a statement, a spokesman for Sydney Trains said it was “very concerned with the matter”.

“In the interim, Sydney Trains has directed the employee not to attend work while the matter is examined,” the spokesman said.

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