Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led a chorus of condemnation after 16 members of a neo-Nazi group were arrested in Adelaide yesterday.The 15 men and one boy, who police said were all part of the National Socialist Network, were charged with a range of offences after marching through the South Australian capital on Australia Day, chanting "Australia for the white man".The men were charged with a range of offences, including one who was charged with using a Nazi symbol.
Anthony Albanese has condemned the neo-Nazis who were arrested in Adelaide yesterday. (Alex Ellinghausen)"They were horrific scenes yesterday to have people openly identifying as neo-Nazis and fascists," Albanese said today."White supremacists marching through the street. I congratulate the South Australian Police on the action they took."Mike Burgess, the head of ASIO, has been warning for some time about the rise of far-right groups in Australia."It's a phenomenon, unfortunately, we have seen in other parts of the industrialised world as well."There is no place for this hateful ideology here in Australia or, indeed, anywhere else." about violent, nationalist, far-right extremists who "want to trigger a so-called 'race war'".
16 members of the National Socialist Network were charged. (Getty)South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas issued a similar condemnation."It is utterly disgraceful that these so-called neo-Nazis have come from interstate to protest in front of this sacred memorial that commemorates the exact thing so many South Australians fought against and paid the ultimate sacrifice," he said."Racism and intolerance have no place in Australia."Police said the majority of the men arrested yesterday had travelled to South Australia from interstate.At least three of them, including the man who allegedly displayed a Nazi symbol, were from Western Australia, and WA Premier Roger Cook said the behaviour was "of huge concern"."They are an insidious poison which is seeking to leach their way across Western Australian community and society," he said."You're cowards," he added."Cowards that are simply trying to spread ignorance, division, fear and hatred in the community."
The 15 men and one boy are due to face court tomorrow. (Getty)The neo-Nazi display came the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, which today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp.Albanese today announced $4.4 million in funding to build a National Holocaust Education Centre in Canberra, and a further $2 million to upgrade the Holocaust Institute of WA.Around 6 million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust."It's important that we have full knowledge of what occurred, where hate leads," Albanese said. "And it's important that any antisemitism be opposed in all of its forms and it's important here in Australia, the day after Australia Day, that we cherish what overwhelmingly Australians have done, which is to come together…"We are overwhelmingly a harmonious country that lives in peace and security and we should not take that for granted. We need to nurture it, each and every day."The 16 people charged yesterday are due to face court in Adelaide tomorrow.