Prominent neo-Nazi Joel Davis has been charged with alleged hate speech after a protest by the National Socialist Network outside New South Wales parliament.
About 60 members of the now-disbanded group stood in formation on Macquarie Street on 8 November last year, allegedly holding a large banner that read: “Abolish the Jewish lobby.”
In a statement on Wednesday night, NSW police said that after an investigation into the protest and two speeches made by participants, a 32-year-old man had been arrested at a South Penrith house earlier that day.
Davis was taken to Penrith police station where he was charged with publicly inciting hatred on the grounds of race and causing fear. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre local court on 3 June.
“An investigation into this matter was undertaken by the security investigation unit, counter terrorist and special tactics command, who sought legal advice in relation to the public assembly and content of the speeches,” police said.
NSW police were criticised at the time of the rally for not opposing a “form 1” application by the organisers, after receiving legal advice that the banner did not meet the threshold for hate speech.
The premier, Chris Minns, and the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said they were unaware of the event until after it happened.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailDocuments released under freedom of information have revealed that senior police officers and members of the Premier’s Department security team were notified about the neo-Nazi event ahead of time.
In a supplementary answer to NSW budget estimates in March, Lanyon said a subsequent investigation of protesters “identified no offence”.
Wednesday’s charge comes after criticism of the police response to alleged antisemitic incidents by members of the Jewish community at the royal commission into antisemitism.
The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Peter Wertheim, told the royal commission this week that the “wrong call” was made by police in allowing the November protest to go ahead.
Wertheim made similar comments to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into legislation expanding hate speech offences to include Nazi slogans, commissioned after the protest outside parliament.
“With every other [form 1] application where objections have been taken – and rightly so in most cases, in our view – the rationale has been expressed in terms of public safety considerations, not legality considerations.”
The inquiry recommended police develop internal training to guide the enforcement of offences targeting rightwing extremism.
The controversial offence for publicly inciting hatred on the grounds of race, section 93ZAA of the NSW Crimes Act, came into effect in August 2025.
The state’s Law Reform Commission had opposed the move, arguing the laws would “introduce imprecision and subjectivity into the criminal law”.
Since then, NSW police has been criticised for not bringing charges under the offence, including after two Palestinian Australians were assaulted and allegedly racially abused on a train after an anti-immigration march in August last year.
The police minister, Yasmin Catley, told budget estimates in March this year that six people had been charged under 93ZAA.
After Davis was charged, Catley said: “NSW police have acted, the laws are working, and the matter is now before the courts.”
“These laws exist for a reason, to protect people from [alleged] hate and fear, and the government will continue to support strong action against hatred and extremism,” the minister said.
The government has refused to release an independent review of hate speech laws by retired supreme court judge John Sackar, tabled in November. Sackar had been asked to look into expanding the offence to cover religion, gender identity and sexuality.
Davis was already on bail after being charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, for allegedly calling in a Telegram channel for the “rhetorical rape” of the independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, who had criticised the 8 November rally. He has yet to enter pleas to the charges.
The National Socialist Network claims it disbanded in January before legislation to proscribe alleged “hate groups” was introduced to federal parliament after the Bondi terror attack.
NSW police were contacted for comment.
Additional reporting by Jordyn Beazley
