{"id":580429,"date":"2026-04-02T09:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580429\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:18:14","slug":"neo-nazi-granted-bail-following-alleged-threats-to-multiple-female-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580429\/","title":{"rendered":"Neo-Nazi granted bail following alleged threats to multiple female MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A prominent white nationalist will take his first breath of fresh air since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/christmas\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Christmas\">Christmas<\/a> after being released on bail over allegations he harassed multiple female leaders.Joel Davis, 31, has been in custody on remand since his arrest in November for allegedly calling for the &#8220;rhetorical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/rape\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"rape\">rape<\/a>&#8221; of independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender.The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/parliament\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"parliamentarian\">parliamentarian<\/a> had condemned the since-disbanded National Socialist Network for holding a police-authorised rally outside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/new-south-wales\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"NSW\">NSW<\/a> parliament in November.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/cb6eecd8-85e0-47d9-be83-8365a54c78b5.jpeg\"   alt=\"\"\/>National Socialist Network spokesperson Joel Davis was arrested in Bondi on Thursday, November 20, 2025. (Australian Federal Police)Davis &#8211; a key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/sydney\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Sydney\">Sydney<\/a> ally of the network&#8217;s leader Thomas Sewell &#8211; claims he was using a &#8220;philosophical term of art&#8221; in the post, but prosecutors allege it encouraged hate and abuse towards Spender.After three unsuccessful attempts at being granted bail, Davis escalated the fight to the NSW Supreme <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/courts\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Court\">Court<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>He has been kept in segregation in jail because of his suspected political affiliations and has not been outside since December 24, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>The former mouthpiece only showered once every four days because he only leaves his cell when escorted to wash, the court was told.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Those are unusual conditions in custody that most inmates are not experiencing,&#8221; Justice Natalie Adams noted.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/d1f22d87-f4a8-4486-817c-2bb0410c3b8b.png\"   alt=\"Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender speaks during a condolence motion in relation to the victims of the Bondi antisemitic terror attack, in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 19 January 2026.\"\/>Davis allegedly called for the &#8220;metaphoric rape&#8221; of Allegra Spender. (Alex Ellinghausen)<\/p>\n<p>Davis has not yet entered pleas to charges related to the alleged threats.<\/p>\n<p>Delays in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/law\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"legal\">legal<\/a> system mean he is likely to spend months &#8211; if not another year &#8211; in similar conditions if he is not granted bail, his barrister Sebastian De Brennan argued.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutor Laura Goodwin conceded Davis has experienced hardship over and above what he might have been expected to endure while in custody.<\/p>\n<p>But she argued he should not be released into the community because he might commit serious offences or endanger the safety of individuals or the community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The alleged conduct has the capacity to incite others to affect the applicant&#8217;s desires,&#8221; Goodwin said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Some of the messages contain references to actual desires to beat or to otherwise attack, particularly including to rape certain individuals without the qualifier of &#8216;rhetorical&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Davis allegedly commented &#8220;stupid bitch needs to be beaten&#8221; on an article about NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane and &#8220;must rape&#8221; on an article about eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, the court was told.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/1724b8ff-a63a-4c8e-b1d7-68f6421f192c.png\"   alt=\"Leader of Opposition and NSW Liberal Leader Kellie Sloane.\"\/>NSW Liberal Leader Kellie Sloane. (Sitthixay Ditthavong)<\/p>\n<p>The messages might be reviled or seen as extremely unpalatable, but their criminality was contested, Mr De Brennan told the court.<\/p>\n<p>A psychologist&#8217;s report determined that while Davis still holds the controversial views expressed online, he has reflected and is on the &#8220;precipice of change&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The network was deregistered in January, removing his platform for sharing those views, the court was told.<\/p>\n<p>Given that he still held the extreme political views, the major question was which bail conditions would ensure he didn&#8217;t repeat his behaviour, even if he had shown insight into his past approach, Justice Adams said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The central hurdle to overcome in this case is that when someone has rigid views, it&#8217;s hard to modify one&#8217;s behaviour overnight,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Adams acknowledged community concern but said strict bail conditions &#8211; including that Davis not post or comment publicly on social media &#8211; would make it very difficult for him to repeat his alleged conduct.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am satisfied there are no unacceptable risks,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Davis will not be able to use an internet-capable phone or an encrypted device and was barred from going within 100m of Spender or Sloane.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Sewell faced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/melbourne\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Melbourne\">Melbourne<\/a> Magistrates Court on Thursday over allegations he behaved offensively in front of the city&#8217;s Chinese consulate in October 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old, who led the now-disbanded network, plans to make a constitutional argument against his single charge.<\/p>\n<p>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prominent white nationalist will take his first breath of fresh air since Christmas after being released on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-580429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580429","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=580429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}