The New-Far-Right Movement in Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Australia is becoming a growing hotbed for far-right extremism given the rapid proliferation of far-right groups and mainstreaming of extremist thought. Radical Islamist violence within the region has fuelled far-right ultra-nationalistic hatred of Islam and Muslims. Newer far-right groups are increasingly heterogeneous, anti-Muslim and understand the influential power of media to further their narratives. As such, far-right ideology becomes more mainstream and Islamophobia rises in social and political domains. Australia’s newer far-right groups forward their notion of “Australian” identity that they claim is under siege from what they perceive as an encroaching dominance of Islam and Muslims in Australia. This article will explore the ideological landscape of such far-right ultra-nationalist extremist groups and how these narratives normalise hatred against Muslims. I contend that it is the expansion of the far-right identity to include multi-ethnic ultra-nationalists, the manipulation of meta-narratives of “Australian values” in both the social and mainstream media, and the dichotomous notion of “good” and “evil” based on religious-racial politics, that has helped to radicalise the new Australian far-right ultra-nationalist groups against Muslims.