The leader of a self-described “nationalist” organisation, who was formerly a member of the far-right white nationalist group the Lads Society, addressed an anti-transgender rights rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament at the weekend.
Matthew Trihey, who also goes by Matthew Raine, has since apologised for drawing attention for his appearance, after he lent his public address system to Saturday’s #WomenWillSpeak event and made opening and closing speeches.
Trihey, a former boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, runs a self-described “nationalist” group that aims to “preserve western culture and identity”, “return to natural order” and introduce an “immediate moratorium on immigration”.
He said he had previously been a member of the Lads Society, a group which, according to its leader, aimed to attract members of mainstream society under the guise of a men’s fitness club while keeping its explicitly white supremacist agenda hidden. The group’s leader, Thomas Sewell, went on to found the National Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi group with members in most major cities in Australia.
“For those who are here for the #WomenWillSpeak event, thank you for coming,” Trihey told the crowd on Saturday. “To the brave women here, who have the courage to speak out in a society that women are being silenced, thank you.”
He then introduced the event’s organiser, Michelle Uriarau from the Women’s Action Group.
In a series of responses provided to Guardian Australia, Trihey denied he was a neo-Nazi. He said he had left the Lads Society “five years ago” due to “philosophical differences”, after about 11 months as a member.
“I have been politically dissolutioned [sic] for many years and realised that there is no movement or political party that represents me, which is why I started the National Workers Alliance,” he said.
Trihey said that, before he addressed Saturday’s rally, he had been holding a separate “information rally and flyer drop off” when he was asked by a member of his group if he could bring his PA system to the parliament.
“I was happy to help out as I support what they are doing and so offered them my PA and did a quick intro and closing statement,” he said.
He said he had since contacted Uriarau to apologise “for the criticism that my involvement has brought them”.
“I am not a neo nazi, I have never been a member of the NSN and I am not a hateful person,” Trihey said. “I was not approached by the #WomenWillSpeakGroup, I offered assistance and they accepted.”
Guardian Australia has attempted to contact Uriarau.
After anti-fascist researchers from the White Rose Society linked Trihey to the Lads Society, describing it as a “neo-Nazi” group in social media posts, Uriarau, who is Māori, took to X to dismiss suggestions he was a neo-Nazi.
“So, who here can tell me WHY WOULD ANY NAZI KINDLY OFFER HELP TO A MĀORI WAHINE [Māori woman], eh??” she wrote.
“Funnily enough, I just happen to have experience on matters such as these. The answer is – they don’t. Nazi’s believe Māori wāhine are nothing more than dirt.”
The Women’s Action Group was founded by a group of women in rural and regional Victoria in 2019 to oppose changes to the law that allowed trans and gender-diverse people to change their recorded sex on their birth certificates.
According to a biography on the group’s YouTube account, it opposes “transgender ideology being forced upon their communities through culture and in law” and lobbies politicians to “resist changes in regulation and legislation that will bring harm to women and girls”.
Members have previously gathered for events at parliament.
On Saturday their rally was met by a group of counter-protesters supportive of transgender rights.
Police said they had to use pepper spray when counter-protesters tried to breach their line. Footage shows several protesters tackled to the ground by officers, with a newspaper photographer also knocked over.
Two women in their 20s were arrested at the scene and were expected to be charged on summons.
Police issued a statement stating they were “disappointed at the behaviour of many” of the 100 people who attended the rally. They said they would also review available footage of the rally to “identify any further offending”.
The event came a year after the Let Women Speak event, which was headlined by the British activist Kellie-Jay Keen, who also goes by Posie Parker. Uriarau also spoke at that event.
At the time, a group of men from the NSN gatecrashed the event and performed the Sieg Heil salute on the front steps of parliament, which led to the fast-tracking of laws banning the Nazi gesture.
The Victorian state MP Moira Deeming, who spoke at the Let Women Speak event, was later expelled from the Victorian Liberal party. She, along with Keen and another event organiser, Angie Jones, is suing the opposition leader, John Pesutto, for defamation.
The three cases are listed for a case management hearing in the federal court on Thursday.
Jones distanced herself from the #WomenWillSpeak event on X, stating she had not organised or attended the event.
Uriarau said while she was inspired by Keen’s “incredible work”, she was not affiliated with the British activist or Let Women Speak.
“We are not affiliated with KJK at all,” Uriarau wrote on X. “We operate independently and are a grassroots women’s group in [Victoria].
“Our event was not even on the anniversary of KJK’s event. We organise around our own private lives & the fulltime caring work we do for our own families.”
