{"id":433080,"date":"2026-01-23T21:52:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433080\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:52:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:52:40","slug":"who-is-the-neo-nazi-who-was-booed-at-hobarts-march-for-australia-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433080\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is the Neo-Nazi who was booed at Hobart’s March for Australia rally?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a rally under the banner of March for Australia in Hobart last year, Clarence councillor Emma Goyne wanted the crowd to know, “I’m not racist, I’m not homophobic”.<\/p>\n

“I’m not anti-migration, I’m not all the things I get called on a daily basis.”<\/p>\n

She continued by telling attendees at the gathering, “we are all migrants” \u2014 but it was “mass migration” she and like-minded others believed was the reason they were protesting.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Hobart March for Australia rally in August last year attracted hundreds and heard from a number of speakers on the day. (ABC News: Monty Jacka)<\/p>\n

At that same event, a man believed to be a leader of the Tasmanian arm of the National Socialist Network (NSN) \u2014 a Neo-Nazi group adhering to antisemitic, white supremacist views \u2014 also addressed the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emma Goyne told the Hobart rally attendees, “we’re all migrants”, and the reason she was there was “mass migration”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

WARNING: This story contains images and language relating to far-right extremism that some readers may find distressing<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The applause turned to booing for Craig Johnson shortly after he began to speak at the Hobart rally in August. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

In a video from the rally, Craig Johnson, also known online by the names Craig Titler and Craig Tit, climbed onto a bench and told the crowd through a megaphone: “It feels good to be born in Australia”.<\/p>\n

‘Swastika on their heart’: The NSN is gone, but its members remain<\/a><\/p>\n

March for Australia organisers are planning a fresh round of mass demonstrations across the country on January 26, with members encouraging others to join the now disbanded White Australia Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a speech lasting around a minute, those listening to Mr Johnson heard him call for the removal of the “traitors of the government” and tell immigrants, “we don’t want your scab labour”.<\/p>\n

The clapping and applause from the crowd stops and the booing begins, as he is heard to shout “it’s our country, time to take it back”, with one person telling him to “tone it down”, another saying “we are all immigrants, mate”, and another calling for him to “get off”.<\/p>\n

“Traitors and scum, you’ll be dead,” he shouts, before stepping down, to more booing from members of the crowd.<\/p>\n

More March for Australia events are planned for this coming Australia Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

Craig Johnson (centre) has been identified as a leader within Tasmania’s white supremacist movement. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

MFA ‘in no way concerned’ by NSN at rallies<\/p>\n

The national organisers for the March for Australia rallies told the ABC after the August 2025 event they were “made aware that a small number of our marshals were members of the National Socialist Network” \u2014 but added “we wish to make clear that we are in no way concerned by their presence”.<\/p>\n

“We believe that the Labor\/Liberal policy of rapidly changing our demographics and browning Australia is radical, and we are opposed to it,” March for Australia said in a statement.<\/p>\n

While March for Australia has said its position on immigration is not “far right”, the ABC has previously reported ties between organisers and white nationalist ideas, including “remigration”.<\/p>\n

\"nazi<\/p>\n

A National Socialist Network sticker on a pole in Hobart. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

March for Australia has not publicly named most of its organisers, but Tasmania’s event was run by someone with the alias “The Australianist”.<\/p>\n

The Australianist said they were not aware of Mr Johnson speaking or that he was a member of a Neo-Nazi group.<\/p>\n

“Several people jumped up and spoke amongst the chaos of August 31, whose names I have no idea [of], though none of the scheduled speakers, or speakers whose names I know were called Craig,” The Australianist said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Australianist is a March for Australia organiser in Tasmania. The organisation says “leftists have threatened organisers and their families who they have been able to identify”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Australia’s Neo-Nazis have had an unadulterated propaganda win<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia’s Neo-Nazis sought to make their own message out of anti-immigration marches, and they succeeded.<\/p>\n

Investigations by experts and the ABC have uncovered more information about the network of Neo-Nazis in Tasmania.<\/p>\n

Social media comments appear to show involvement from Mr Johnson.<\/p>\n

Appealing to Tasmanians on the March for Australia Instagram page, Mr Johnson told one user, “we have organised a private event, as we can’t get a police permit for a public event”.<\/p>\n

“Details to come on our [Facebook] page,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Vague messaging deliberate, expert says<\/p>\n

Independent far-right extremism researcher Kaz Ross said groups like the NSN benefited from “vague” messaging that let them bring in a bigger audience.<\/p>\n

“It’s just, ‘They are taking something from us, they are doing something to us’, and often ‘they’ isn’t specified,” she said.<\/p>\n

“By being vague about who’s doing what to us, people can just fill in the blanks, whatever grievance you’ve got.”\"March<\/p>\n

The March for Australia organisers say they have “no prior knowledge of any political affiliations” of the speakers at the events. (ABC News: Monty Jacka)<\/p>\n

Dr Ross said this led to a larger variety of people responding to March for Australia rallies.<\/p>\n

“After that first March for Australia, there was quite a pushback when the migration thing became the issue,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There was quite a pushback from other people in the freedom movement who went, ‘Well hang on, I’m not racist and I don’t want to mix with Nazis.'”‘Anger, fear’ feeding far-right narrativeWho is behind the March for Australia protests?<\/a><\/p>\n

An ABC NEWS Verify investigation has found organisers linked to the March for Australia protests sharing white supremacy posts on social media and, in one case, pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler memes.<\/p>\n

Australian National University online extremism researcher Simon Copland has examined March for Australia social media pages.<\/p>\n

Dr Copland said the pages were circulating misleading content about housing, culture and crime, with a narrative that migrants were causing it.<\/p>\n

As one example, he said people often skewed data on the number of visas issued.<\/p>\n

“That data also includes holiday visas, so people clearly aren’t migrating to Australia, but coming here for holidays. It’s the same for housing,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

White Australia flyers on display, in an image featured from a 2025 White Australia newsletter. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Social media escalated the virality of ideas, he said, and once a myth was dispelled, it was often too late because by then, the truth was not “emotionally important”.<\/p>\n

“[Social media algorithms] need your attention, and the way they do that is to tap into your emotions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So they promote material that is really emotionally based, and one of the most powerful emotions is anger and fear.”\"A<\/p>\n

A National Socialist Network sticker in Hobart. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Tasmanian NSN leader’s abuse of Jewish community<\/p>\n

Up until last year, Mr Johnson blurred his face in private Neo-Nazi group chats and communications \u2014 but he now shows it.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

Craig Johnson, who also goes by the names Craig Titler and Craig Tit. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Photos in newsletters from the Nationalist Socialist Network show Mr Johnson, who is from northern Tasmania, wearing a silver wristband.<\/p>\n

Dr Ross said this signified he was part of the NSN leadership.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Mr Johnson verbally abused supporters of a Drag Queen Story Time event held at the Launceston Library \u2014 calling them “paedophiles” who were “grooming children”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Craig Johnson pictured in a still from a video taken outside a 2023 Drag Queen Story Time event held at the Launceston Library. (ACM Media)<\/p>\n

In 2024, a social media account posted a video of an NSN sticker put on a post outside the Hobart Synagogue that showed a sword through the Star of David.<\/p>\n

Through anti-fascist researchers at the White Rose Society, and open-source investigation techniques, the ABC has confirmed the account belongs to Mr Johnson.<\/p>\n

In the background of the video, a song plays that quotes the white supremacist Turner Diaries \u2014 a book published in 1978 by former physics professor and Neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, which calls for a race war, an end to multiculturalism and a coup against the institutions of US democracy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A National Socialist Network sticker was put on a pole across from the Hobart synagogue. The ABC has chosen to blur the sticker. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

‘Touch our kids, it’s over’: Neo-Nazi issues chilling warning to authorities<\/a><\/p>\n

An ABC investigation has uncovered a disturbing escalation in rhetoric from prominent neo-Nazis in Australia, including comments about encouraging violent crime.<\/p>\n

Dr Ross said the video’s quote came from a passage describing the fictional mass hangings of people the author believed had “defiled their race” \u2014 through relationships with Jewish or other “non-white” people, as well as professionals whose jobs “helped promote” racial diversity.<\/p>\n

Dr Ross said the social media post was “extremely threatening” and among the worst things she had seen in a Neo-Nazi post.<\/p>\n

The Turner Diaries quotes were from an audio recording of Pierce reading his own work, Dr Ross explained.<\/p>\n

“Pierce was involved in setting up [the terrorist group] National Action in the US, and was the patron of Atomwaffen, a more recent proscribed terrorist group. The Turner Diaries is considered an extremist text,” she said.<\/p>\n

“That [posting the video to social media] is an extreme act, that is not just bickering, and that is an indication of him, Craig, where he’s at.”Tasman Forth group now ‘effectively’ part of NSN, expert says<\/p>\n

Mr Johnson was believed to be a member of Tasman Forth \u2014 originally formed as a state-based entity with affiliations to the NSN and the European Australian Movement (EAM), Dr Ross said.<\/p>\n

“But since 2022, the organisations have effectively been one organisation,” she said.<\/p>\n

A screenshot taken in 2024 of a 2021 post from Tasman Forth’s Telegram chat sets out the rules for joining, including a condemnation of what it called “degenerate habits” like homosexuality, being transsexual, drug abuse and race mixing.<\/p>\n

The chat group is no longer publicly accessible.<\/p>\n

WARNING: The next section of this story contains an image of a Nazi salute.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A screenshot of the rules of the private Tasman Forth social media group. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Dr Ross said the NSN was founded on an Aryan, white supremacist ideology perpetrated during World War II, and for this reason, they “put a lot of stock on physical strength and physical fitness and beauty”.<\/p>\n

She said those views were generally not detailed on public-facing material.<\/p>\n

“You can see that anybody that doesn’t aim or strive for that ideal, or is excluded from that ideal because of their sexuality or their race or their disability, is immediately considered to be lesser humans,” Dr Ross said.\"A<\/p>\n

A still image from a video posted in 2023 by National Socialist Network showing members at a powerlifting event at an unknown location. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

National Socialist Network to disband<\/p>\n

In recent years, promotional stickers and graffiti from the NSN have cropped up in the Rosny area on Hobart’s eastern shore and at Battery Point \u2014 each time, anti-fascist groups have worked quickly to locate and cover or remove them.<\/p>\n

Dr Ross described stickering as an attempt to intimidate and recruit.<\/p>\n

“If they blanket-sticker an area, it might be one guy, but if you’re seeing those stickers all the time \u2026 with ‘f*** off, we’re full’ or something like that, you’re thinking, ‘Wow, there are a lot of racists around here, it doesn’t feel safe,'” she said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes stickering could lead to more, Dr Ross said.<\/p>\n

“[In Perth, Neo-Nazis] started off by stickering against Asian people living in Perth, then they moved to sticking up posters, and then they moved to firebombing Chinese restaurants,” she said.\"Stickers<\/p>\n

An Australian European Movement sticker on a wall in Hobart. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

To avoid being designated a hate group by federal authorities under new hate speech laws, the NSN announced it would disband<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It said its “co-projects” \u2014 White Australia, the EAM, and the White Australia Party (the political party it attempted to establish) \u2014 would also end.<\/p>\n

In a statement, White Australia said it would consider pursuing its agenda through parliamentarianism.<\/p>\n

Dr Copland said the group members’ dispersal could make it more challenging for security agencies to monitor the actions of white supremacists.<\/p>\n

“[White supremacists are] just more likely to move into a loose network, that is an unnamed network, and doesn’t have formal organisational structures,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They’ll continue to socialise, they’ll continue to meet, they just won’t do it under an official name so they can avoid the new hate legislation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a rally under the banner of March for Australia in Hobart last year, Clarence councillor Emma Goyne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73198,43,50561,78249,226510,44,26293,2801,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-433080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-far-right","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-march-for-australia","11":"tag-neo-nazi","12":"tag-neonazi","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-rally","15":"tag-tasmania","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}