The Australian Extreme Right

Right wing extremism poses an immediate threat to the Australian people and their liberal democratic order. Enthralled by myth and ideology, captivated by an idealized and nostalgic past, and enticed by the promises of identity and belonging, right wing extremist organizations are resurging. Their emergence and enduring presence demonstrate remarkable continuity in the Australian democratic context. As a result, this book offers the first comprehensive examination of the Australian extreme right, providing insight into over 350 organizations in under two centuries. To illuminate this continuity, this book considers extreme right continuity through a lens of ideology, myth, identity, and mobilization. It explores notions of duty, consequence and virtue within extremist ideologies to demonstrate how organizations come to endorse violence as morally permissible and necessary. This book thus spans histories of white nationalism and supremacy, fascism and neo-Nazism, racialized Odinism, Christian extremism, antigovernment extremism, sovereign citizens, and complex ideologies. By considering the violent threat of these organizations in association with their non-violent strategies that seek to weaken and subvert the Australian liberal democratic order, this book promises to support academics, policymakers and practitioners alike.