Lidia Thorpe: Australian senator on the growing calls to deport New Zealand-born neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell

An Australian politician says a New Zealand-born neo-Nazi leader shouldn't be deported here, despite a nearly 60,000 strong petition.

National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell was arrested yesterday, after gate-crashing a press conference with the Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan.

Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe says he's allegedly been committing hate crimes and should face the music in Australia.

"I don't think sending a white supremacist to my Māori brothers and sisters of Aotearoa is going to solve anything here."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The case of that Australian neo nazi Thomas Sewell, who
was arrested yesterday. There's now a petition online with over
fifty thousand. In fact, it's close to sixty thousand signatures
calling for him to be deported back to his birth
country of New Zealand. Now, Lydia Thorpe is an independent
Australian senator. It's the state of Victoria and with us.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, Lydia, Hello Heva, thanks for having Menia.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Thanks, welcome back to the show. Now you want him
to port.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It, do you? I don't think that that is the answer.
To be honest, there is a problem with white supremacy
in this country and that's what we need to be
dealing with. I understand that the people signing that petition
want action. They want some kind of action, and that

(00:40):
is because we have a federal government that have said
nothing about this. The Prime Minister Anthony Albanizi has said nothing.
This is a hate crime and I'm calling on the
Federal Parliament to address it as a hate crime from
the Australian Federal Police. I don't think sending a white

(01:01):
supremacist to my brothers and sisters, my Mardi brothers and
sisters of atier Row are is going to solve anything
here because you know it's one Nazi. There's plenty more
where that comes from. And we need to address the
absolute racism that is rife in this country.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Literally, Wow, thank you. I'm really grateful because I was
really I really don't want them to come here either. Listen,
what is the situation with you people?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Though?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Why have you got so many neo Nazis over there?

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, they've always been here. I mean since invasion, we've
been dealing with white supremacy and you know we see
that in the Parliament, the Federal Parliament. The racism that
particularly black and brown people have to deal with is.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Every day something else. I mean, this guy's going around
punching people and you know, doing weird stuff and High
Australia and stuff. Where's this where's all this radical stuff
come from?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, it's very found of this so called great nation.
You know, it might be great for some, but it's
not great for us. We're the poorest, sickest people in
our own country. And white supremacy has been a longstanding problem.
I myself, since I entered politics, have been subjected to

(02:19):
neo Nazi threats, neo Nazi violence, and they have been
on top of the list for the Australian Federal Police
for many years. It's just not taken seriously and usually
it's just swept under the carpet with a slap on
the wrist like what we're seeing right now. And that's

(02:41):
just the racism that still exists in this country, unfortunately,
and that's what needs to be addressed.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Lydia, thank you for talking to us. Lydia Thorpe, Independent
Senator for Victoria. Didn't think we'd be agreeing with Lydia there,
did we?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
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