<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>High-profile neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell says his white nationalist organisation and other linked groups will disband before the government brings in tough new hate speech laws.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The draft Combating Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism bill will be </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-recalls-parliament-early-hate-speech-gun-buyback-legislation/ed81c0a2-e34f-4788-b240-2a05bf1ff763"><span>debated when parliament is recalled early next week</span></a><span>, as the Albanese government responds to the deadly antisemitic terror </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/bondi-beach" rel="" target="" title="attack at Bondi Beach"><span>attack at Bondi Beach</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It includes measures targeting "prohibited hate groups" and "hate preachers".</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-terror-attack-anthony-albanese-announces-day-of-mourning/14de1d51-48af-4769-a313-8ae538890c7e" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Day of mourning date for Bondi terror attack revealed</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sewell said the National Socialist Network (NSN) would be "fully disbanded before 11.59pm Sunday the 18th of January 2026."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The disbandment includes not only the National Socialist Network, but its co-projects White Australia, the European Australian Movement and the White Australia Party," he said, in a message co-signed by other group leaders such as Jacob Hersant on the White Australia Telegram channel today.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If the laws pass, there will [be] no way to avoid the organisation being banned."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/thomas-sewells-neonazi-national-socialist-network-to-be-fully-disbanded-before-hate-speech-laws/8f82d155-116f-48e9-b090-6eb2650afe5c" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sewell claimed the laws were "some of the most draconian laws the West has ever seen".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Promoting the laws yesterday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke named the NSN and radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, in reference to an ASIO warning about groups who keep "themselves just below the legal threshold".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"While they have created a pathway for others to engage in violence, have been careful to not explicitly call for it themselves. They've kept themselves just below that threshold," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This bill will lower that threshold, and lower that threshold to the extent that we can within the Constitution. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We have had enough of organisations that hate Australia, playing games with Australian law."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-attack-quoting-religious-texts-could-be-a-defence-against-hate-speech-laws/5c45ccf2-865e-4fbc-a14c-3c46c9086740" rel="" target="" title="Quoting religious texts could be exempted from new hate speech laws "><strong><span>Quoting religious texts could be exempted from new hate speech laws </span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The government </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-attack-quoting-religious-texts-could-be-a-defence-against-hate-speech-laws/5c45ccf2-865e-4fbc-a14c-3c46c9086740"><span>released the draft bill to the public</span></a><span> today, after yesterday announcing the early </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-attack-quoting-religious-texts-could-be-a-defence-against-hate-speech-laws/5c45ccf2-865e-4fbc-a14c-3c46c9086740"><span>recall of parliament to debate it</span></a><span>. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It includes a package of reforms that target both hate speech and firearms through the establishment of a gun buyback scheme, stricter gun import rules, harsher penalties for hate speech and stricter migration rules.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A new offence would be established for a person or group who publicly promotes or incites racial hatred, with a penalty of five years' imprisonment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Albanese today defended a narrow exception that would ensure the rules did not apply to actions that consist "only of directly quoting from, or otherwise referencing, a religious text for the purpose of religious teaching or discussion".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-teenager-charged-hoax-calls-mass-shootings-usa/185bc9cc-53ca-4088-9afc-0619904f38c0" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Australian teen charged after allegedly making hoax mass shooting calls to the US</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I encourage you to read the Old Testament and see what's there and see if you outlaw that, what would occur," he told reporters this morning.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So we need to be careful. We consulted with faith groups, not just with the Jewish community.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We want to make sure there's the broadest possible support for this legislation, but we also want to make sure that there isn't unintended consequences of the legislation as well."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim claimed the defence is a "relic of outdated thinking" and was effectively unnecessary.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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