The day a neo-Nazi ambushed the premier

3 months ago 9

Premier Jacinta Allan was offering her thoughts on whether a neo-Nazi raid on an Aboriginal camp should be treated as a hate crime when the man who led that attack, National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell, suddenly emerged.

We were standing on the cold grass of a West Melbourne park to hear the premier and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes extol the virtues of working from home before turning to other issues. Like neo-Nazis violently crashing a place of peace and reflection for First Nations people on Sunday.

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell approaching Jacinta Allan’s press conference.

As is standard practice, press gallery journalists had two hours’ notice of exactly where the premier would be. At 6.45am, we awoke to a text message with the details.

This was the first time we’d had an opportunity to question the premier about Sunday’s events and the police response. A reporter from Channel Seven was pressing the point that Sewell, a reviled neo-Nazi with a history of violence, had declared himself proud of his behaviour.

That’s when the press pack’s attention was abruptly diverted. A man dressed in black with a patch of the Union Jack on his shoulder (and a creepy moustache) was coming up behind the politicians.

The premier sensed the distraction beyond her line of sight. “Do we need to stop for a tick?” she asked.

It was Thomas Sewell, AKA the sewer rat, as Aboriginal woman Yaraan Couzens Bundle called him after witnessing the attack on Camp Sovereignty.

Sewell’s fellow neo-Nazi Nathan Bull was already filming when the 10 or so assembled journalists, shocked and shaken, pulled out their own phones. The camera operators, the first responders in any press pack, immediately swung around to film the confrontation.

Sewell launched into a tirade, falsely accusing Allan of banning protest and speech.

Allan’s security detail (and an angry staffer) held the neo-Nazis back while the premier, Symes and backbench MP and First Nations woman Sheena Watt retreated to their cars.

Sewell said it was all a coincidence, that he had come across the press conference as he was on his way to court. He is facing a slew of charges, including contravening personal safety orders and intimidating police.

Once she safely returned to Treasury Place, the premier and her staff will be asking difficult questions about how a neo-Nazi learnt where to find her at a public park at 8.45am on a Tuesday morning.

It may be that from now on, journalists are given less notice about the location of press conferences. It is already rare to see high-profile politicians out and about in public places.

The movements of former premier Daniel Andrews were tightly controlled during the 2022 state election campaign while COVID-19 frustrations were still boiling. There were no street walks, no shaking of strangers’ hands outside train stations. In a first for a state premier, Andrews voted away from his electorate of Mulgrave at a quiet city booth on a Thursday evening without the usual hubbub of TV crews.

Part of this was to avoid bloopers, like standing next to an “EXIT” sign in front of photographers or bumping into the Liberal Party’s retired ambulance-turned campaign bus emblazoned with “ditch Dan”.

But largely it was because of the legitimate security risk to him.

And the consequence of these confrontations is less public engagement with elected representatives.

It’s less opportunity for the broader public to shake someone’s hand, tell a politician to get stuffed or to raise a personal challenge your local MP could help with.

It could have a chilling effect on the availability of politicians to journalists, who need proper notice to get to press conferences with the premier in a hard hat out at the Sunshine transport hub or with nurses in Clayton.

Jacinta Allan declared she is not deterred.

“As premier, I’ll always be out and about in public fighting for you, like I am all day today. I am not afraid.”

But she, her government, the media, police and the broader community will need to consider how best to respond to the threat of these people, who have long terrorised marginalised Victorians.

Labor MPs and government ministers were privately grappling with this on Tuesday: “The line is being crossed here.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.