Australian neo-Nazi 'emulating thugs of 1930s Berlin'

A neo-Nazi has been sentenced for abusive behaviour emulating "Nazi thugs of 1930s Berlin" after trying to claim freedom of speech entitled him to commit "appalling racial slurs".

Thomas Sewell, 33, was handed a community work order at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday after representing himself to fight a single charge over his stunt outside a Chinese Consulate in 2024.

Using a megaphone, he directed a group dressed all in black with their faces covered, outside the consulate in Melbourne's Toorak wielding a large sign with a racist slur against Asian people.

The leader of the now-defunct National Socialist Network, which disbanded earlier this year, claimed the incident was free speech and legitimate political commentary.

Magistrate Patrick Southey rejected this and labelled the offending "repugnant" as he convicted Sewell of behaving in an offensive manner in public.

"This was unmistakably a neo-Nazi gathering," he told Sewell in court on Tuesday.

"The footage was chilling, his utterances repugnant, and this court has no doubt that any reasonable person passing would have been appalled. They would have been entitled to ask themselves - what is this country coming to?"

The magistrate issued a stern dressing down to Sewell, who has been before the court for committing neo-Nazi-related offending previously.

"Mr Sewell's supporters may hide their faces, but he cannot hide behind the pretence of exercising his right to free speech," Mr Southey said.

"He could have made any of the points he wished to make, without resorting to appalling racial slurs, and emulating the Nazi thugs of 1930s Berlin."

He said New Zealand-born Sewell and his group made threats to hang someone and images of them doing this with their faces covered "brought to mind the Ku Klux Klan".

"It was ugly behaviour, it's intolerable," Mr Southey said.

"I know you've lived in this country a long time, but some might say you've yet to learn what it is to be Australian."

He said Australia was an easygoing, tolerant society made up of people from all sorts of backgrounds, and was "welcoming to immigrants like you".

Sewell responded: "No, I think you find that Australia was founded on the racism that you want to criminalise."

Prosecutor Alex Turner said he was not seeking for Sewell to be jailed for the offending, but instead wanted him to be handed a "punitive" community work order.

Sewell was placed on an 18-month community corrections order where he must perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.