The most important development on the far right in 1998 was the growth of
the One Nation party, which succeeded in drawing support away from
extreme right groups. One Nation received almost one million votes in the
federal election, but won only one seat in the Senate. Nineteen ninety-eight
was a record year for anti-Semitism, with 346 reported incidents, although
attacks on property, vandalism and assault were all below average. An
increase in extremist Arab and Muslim anti-Zionist and anti-Israel
propaganda was noted, probably as a result of tensions in Arab-Israeli
relations, the crisis over Iraq and Israel's 50th anniversary celebrations.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
The 100,000 Jews in Australia out of a total population of 17,850,000
constitute the largest Jewish community in the East Asia Pacific Region. The
great majority of Australian Jews live in Melbourne (45,000) and Sydney
(38,000) but there are also significant communities in Perth, Brisbane, the
Gold Coast and Adelaide, and smaller communities can be found throughout
the country. Most Jews of Polish origin reside in Melbourne, while those of
German and Hungarian stock have made their homes in Sydney. Australia is
a favorite destination of Jewish emigrants from the former Soviet Union and
from South Africa.
The leading communal organization is the Executive Council of Australian
Jewry (ECAJ). The community publishes two Jewish weeklies and several
other periodicals. High enrollment in Jewish day schools and a comparatively
low rate of intermarriage are characteristic features of Australian Jewry.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY GROUPS
The most important development on the far right in 1998 was the growth of
the One Nation party, led by Pauline Hanson, which succeeded in drawing
support away from far-right groups. Australia's militia-type groups were
almost completely subsumed into One Nation while many followers of the
Citizens Electoral Councils, the Australian League of Rights and Australians
Against Further Immigration also opted to back One Nation. The Australia
First Party (AFP), led by Graeme Campbell MP, also drew some support
from traditional far right-wing bases but not sufficiently to have any
significant impact.
In the 1998 federal election, a number of organizations on the fringe of
Australian politics contested positions in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. Even those political parties which are known to include
members attracted by the parties' perceived hostility towards Jews and/ or
other minorities did not openly articulate anti-Jewish prejudice during the
campaign period, with the exception of the Citizens' Electoral Councils
(which have almost no electoral following -- see below).

Political Parties
One Nation received almost one million votes in the federal election, but due
to their distribution they were unable to win any seats in the House of
Representatives and only one seat in the Senate. The Australia First Party,
which performed better than any of the other fringe right-wing and anti-immigration
parties, obtained well under half of one per cent of the national
vote. Both parties were led by sitting parliamentarians, elected in 1996 as
Independents who, as party leaders in 1998, lost their seats by considerable
margins.
During the election campaign both these parties expressed vocal
opposition to cultural diversity and to granting appropriate consideration in
government policy to citizens of differing backgrounds. Both parties
attracted individuals who had prior records of hostility to the Australian
Jewish community, although One Nation recognized the unacceptability of
having overtly anti-Semitic candidates contest seats on their behalf. A
number of individuals who attended One Nation meetings in Queensland,
New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, independently informed the
Jewish community that they had encountered anti-Semitism at One Nation
functions, including on at least one occasion, by a speaker who received the
support of a vocal section of those in attendance. Others reported that they
had been given anti-Semitic literature at meetings, although not provided by
the organizers.
One Nation contested the 1998 Queensland state election and won 11 of
89 seats and 23 per cent of the popular vote. One of the candidates originally
selected by the party, David Summers, the editor of the conspiracy theorist
magazine Exposure, lost his endorsement due to publicity given to his
published views, including distortion of the Holocaust.
Graeme Campbell of the AFP was expelled from the Australian Labor
Party prior to the 1996 federal election, partly due to his association with the
Australian League of Rights (see below).

Extra-parliamentary Groups
A plethora of groups continued to promote anti-Semitism, including some
which have this as their raison d'être. Traditional far right-wing organizations
are now supplemented by individuals or small groups who operate on the
Internet.
The Australian League of Rights, described by the federal government's
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) as "undoubtedly
the most influential and effective, as well as the best organized and
most substantially financed, racist organization in Australia," continued to
hold meetings, conduct action campaigns and seek publicity for its anti-Semitic
analysis of domestic and international affairs. In addition to
traditional methods of propagating its views, the League has increased its use
of modern communications technology. The distribution of books, cassettes
and videos, often of speeches at League functions, and anti-Semitic works
such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, are core League activities. Its most
extreme statements generally demonize individual Jews, Judaism or the
Jewish community.
The Adelaide Institute is a loose conglomeration of individuals around
the self-styled "Holocaust revisionist" Fredrick Toben (see also below). Its
Internet home-page is linked to the major Holocaust denial sites
internationally and it continues to publish material with which it tries to
influence media opinion. Pending the adjudication of a complaint, lodged by
the ECAJ in 1996 and currently in a public hearing before the HREOC, Toben
has distributed a series of media releases aimed at defaming the plaintiff and
portraying the legal process as a Stalinist attempt to suppress the truth.
Amongst the associates of the Adelaide Institute are Olga Scully, who is the
subject of a complaint under the racial hatred act for her dissemination of
anti-Jewish material in her home city of Launceston (Tasmania), and Jack
Selzer, who distributed anti-Semitic literature for many years prior to the
establishment of Fredrick Toben's organization.
Small "Identity" organizations which claim to be Christian but emphasize
race rather than religion, conducted services and sermons, while using the
Internet to reach much larger audiences at home and internationally. The
Christian "Identity" Ministries of far north Queensland have an extensive
mail-order catalogue of literature, which includes Holocaust denial, attacks
on "Judeo-Christians," promotions of booklets and tapes by US white
supremacist preacher Sheldon Emry, and advertisements for the Nation of
Islam's The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews. Individuals
attending rallies in support of Pauline Hanson in Queensland reported being
canvassed by Christian "Identity" Ministry supporters who urged them to
purchase anti-Jewish tapes and books as these would explain more
completely what Hanson meant by "un-Australian" influences.
The British Israelites maintain that the British people are the "lost ten
tribes" of Israel and that they constitute the "Chosen People." Interpreting
Christianity as a racially-, rather than a religiously-based, community, Jews
and non-Europeans appear as non-humans, or at best agents of Satan. In
addition to running religious services for its membership, it has bookshops
and a mail-order service for literature and cassettes. The British-Israel World
Federation bookshop in Sydney has increased stocks of Holocaust denial
material and anti-Semitic literature and become more overtly concerned
about "the Jews." The bookshop sold, in 1998, new printings of The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century and a
number of other "Identity," anti-Semitic and anti-Israel books and magazines.
New stocks were reported for sale throughout the year.
The Citizens' Electoral Councils (CECs) engage in mass mailings of
literature reflecting the views of the US-based conspiracy theorist Lyndon
LaRouche. Jewish organizations and anti-racist groups in general have been
amongst the CECs' favorite targets. The rise of One Nation posed a
significant challenge to the CECs. Although the CECs have participated in a
number of elections, their total vote has generally been even more
insignificant than that of other extreme rightist fringe groups. Some CEC
followers took advantage of the audiences provided by One Nation to
spread their conspiracy theories.
The Australian Civil Liberties' Union (ACLU) continued to advocate
Holocaust denial, with virtually every public announcement directed at
protecting the "rights" of Holocaust deniers and other racists. The
international links of the Council's motivating force, John Bennett, with the
US-based Institute for Historical Review, keep the ACLU in a state-of-the-art
situation for promoting Holocaust denial.
In most cities, small groups of neo-Nazis, sometimes including violent
skinheads, attracted attention during the past year. While not necessarily
aligned to any formal organization, some skinheads were allegedly involved
in racist violence against Asian students and harassment of members of left-wing
groups. Attempts to exploit these groups or direct their violence against
Jews and other minorities are common.
Australian National Action have in the past engaged in a number of
public activities, including staging rallies in Melbourne and Adelaide, and
publishing a newsletter which maligns their enemies, including Jews. Their
agenda is anti-Semitic, anti-immigration and white supremacist, and includes
harassment of political opponents and direct confrontations.
The Southern Cross Hammerskins have in the past advertised their
presence through stickers and calling cards. This affiliate of a loose
international collection of Nazi skinheads has now tapped into a relatively
sophisticated computer-based network promoting hate material. The
Southern Cross Hammerskins' Internet site, proclaims "White Pride, White
Loyalty, White Heritage and White Power" as their "birthright." It includes on
its pages a "letter" from "Damian Craig" of Cairns, Queensland, who wrote
"my pet hate are niggers" and describes the victims of the Nazis as "vermin."
White Aryan Resistance, through their newsletters The Ram and The
White Separatist, spread anti-Semitism and racism, targeting high school
students as potential recruits. Their campaigns have included opposition to
circumcision and promotion of Holocaust denial. Their declared intention is
to annex "a portion of Australia" for the purpose of establishing "a sovereign
Aryan republic in the service of 'racially proud' White Australians,"
independent of the "Zionist Occupation Government."
The Australian National Movement (ANM), based in Perth, has a
record of violence and other criminal activity. It is now seeking to re-establish
itself since its leaders, jailed during the past few years, are
completing their sentences. Their intention to become the leading anti-Jewish
force in Australia appeared in a long anti-Semitic letter sent by the
ANM to a journalist in Melbourne, which contained "Identity" material
downloaded from the Internet.
In April 1998 Chris Bartle announced the formation of the Australian
Revolutionary Movement, a splinter from the ANM. Bartle boasted to an
anti-Nazi researcher claimed that his organization "now has the lion's share
of skinhead membership in Australia" and is "active in destroying the myth
of the Holocaust."

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES
Violence, Vandalism and Intimidation
During 1998 the Jewish community's central database received 346 reports
of incidents of violence, vandalism and intimidation directed at Jews and
Jewish communal institutions around Australia. This figure is 15 per cent
higher than the previous worst year (1996), 38 per cent higher than in 1997,
and 61 per cent higher than the average over the previous eight-year period.
New South Wales (NSW), Queensland and Tasmania each recorded incidents
at a rate well over double the average for the previous period.
Significantly, while harassment and intimidation were recorded at record
levels, property damage, vandalism and assault were all below average, perhaps
as a result of increased security at Jewish institutions around Australia.
Phone calls and letters insulting Jews were reported at the highest rate
ever during the year in review, and the level of aggressiveness and threat
was increased.
The rate of reported hate mail was 70 per cent higher than in the previous
year and almost double the average for the previous eight years. Anti-Semitic
mail sent to non-Jewish recipients was often reported to Jewish institutions.
The most common theme was Holocaust denial, which was also the major
topic of electronic mail sent to members of the Jewish community, including
Holocaust survivors and researchers of Jewish genealogy. Electronic mail
now rivals material received through the post and approaches telephone
threats as a source of complaints by members of the community. The level
of graffiti on Jewish communal and private property and in other locations
was below average for the third successive year.

Propaganda
Tensions in Israeli-Arab relations during 1998, the crisis over Iraq and Israel's
50th anniversary led to an upsurge of extremist Arab and Muslim anti-Zionist
and anti-Israel propaganda. Some commentators in the mainstream media, as
well as campus and special interest publications, made comparisons
between Israel and Nazi Germany.
The Arabic-speaking and the Islamic communities are served by a
vigorous press, in Arabic and English, which generally avoid inflammatory
or offensive language, but do reflect the existence of extremist and anti-Semitic
viewpoints within the communities they serve. The publication
Nida'ul Islam, which is available on the Internet and as a glossy magazine,
prints extreme views of members of the Islamic community in Australia and
of a range of overseas commentators. The tone toward Jews has on occasion
been both hateful and provocative.
The Australian Muslim News, the official newsletter of the roof body of
Muslims in Australia, published a letter in January 1998 signed by
Muammar Patsalides, president of the Islamic Association of Muslim Greeks
in Australia, who wrote "the Jews can snap their fingers and the prime
minister comes running," as well as an editorial which argued: "Within the
US, the 'Jewish Lobby', which is in fact a totally Israeli lobby, is being confronted
by a growing disquiet amongst Christians over the ethnic cleansing
of Jerusalem and the betrayal of what was already a deeply flawed 'peace
process'."
Other items of concern from Arab and Muslim sources included a media
release issued by the General Secretariat of the Australian People's
Conference (the unofficial representative of the Libyan government in
Australia), which claimed "the Australian government does not serve the
Australian people but slavishly obeys the Anglo-American-Zionist agenda";
an (Arabic-language) editorial of the bi-lingual Arab World which referred
to Israel as "the Zionist-Israeli Nazi regime"; and an article published in
al-Bairak under the signature of Naim Badrous, who wrote " ... If any harm
happens to a Jew, the world jumps up. The western and Zionist media don't
stop screaming and yelling. Any person connected with Nazism and the
killing of the Jews (only Jews) is pursued without clemency ... He is guilty
even if proven innocent."
The far-right newspaper The Strategy, published in Victoria, is influenced
by the US-based Patriot Movement. Extracts from the LaRouche news
services, the anti-Semitic US-magazine Spotlight and articles favoring the
activities of Graeme Campbell, Pauline Hanson and Australians Against
Further Immigration were typical in 1998, while a cross-section of extremist
groups placed advertisements in its pages.
While anti-Jewish commentary in the mainstream electronic media
decreased, guests with racist views were able to express them on the radio.
Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben, for example, made comments such as "the
gas chamber in Auschwitz did not exist" and the Holocaust was not an
"historical fact," on both ABC and SBS Radio.
On talkback radio (both commercial and government-sponsored) there
were a number of reports of anti-Semitic comments being broadcast,
although the radio commentators usually responded by informing listeners
that the content was unacceptable. There were also occasional examples of
commentators making analogies and remarks concerning individual Jews in
the public eye, for which they later apologized.

Internet. Most of the major racist groups in Australia now have Internet sites
and for some it is their main method of having a public presence. Australian
websites which most actively promote anti-Semitism are those maintained by
the Adelaide Institute, the Bible Believers, Annwn, Al-Moharer Al-Australi,
the Covenant Vision Ministry and Nida'ul Islam.
"Identity" supporters such as Anthony Grigor-Scott post material to on-line
news groups which claim that Jews are "anti-Semitic" for opposing
Christian "Identity" churches. Grigor-Smith now has an Internet site which
includes a huge volume of "Identity" Church and other anti-Semitic literature,
including The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem, and A. H.
Ramsay's The Nameless Jew and Zimunism, which quotes extensively from
League of Rights' texts in an attempt to prove that "the Jewish race operates"
by "hypnotism which has been exercised over the whole world." Grigor-Scott
also operates a weekly radio program, on a low frequency local station,
in which he delivers anti-Semitic sermons.
In 1998, Annwn, an Internet newsletter and associated hard-copy
publications, authored by webmaster Joseph Chiappalone, contained a
number of blatant examples of anti-Semitism, cloaked in New Age rhetoric.
The material was extremely aggressive in tone, depicting Jews as "the anti-Christ"
and blaming "Zionists" for the death of Jesus.
The website Australian National News of the Day revealed the hostility
toward the Jewish community of some public members and supporters of
One Nation. On a number of occasions the webmaster, Scott Balson, made
comments concerning Jews in Australia which went beyond the pale of
legitimate political criticism. The site also hosted postings which were overtly
anti-Semitic, including a long extract from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
and a submission which claimed "decent Gentiles are rebelling against the
elected crooked and unrepresentative government ... the Jewish mafia."

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST
AND THE NAZI ERA
In August 1998 the Adelaide Institute hosted what they called "Australia's first
historical revisionist conference," which brought Holocaust deniers from the
US and Europe and provided videos and telephone links to others. While the
meeting itself was not well attended, it did bring together a number of
Holocaust deniers from within and outside Australia who often seem to
compete rather than cooperate. The international speakers included the
American Arthur Butz, the Swiss convert to Islam Jürgen Graf, and Andrew
Gray (as an "expert" on Richard Wagner).

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM
Victims of racism have recourse to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, under legislation introduced in 1995. The two complaints,
against the Adelaide Institute website and anti-Jewish propagandist Olga
Scully, brought by the ECAJ and referred to public hearing, have already
demonstrated the complexities of the process of resolving complaints, with
each taking at least 28 months to reach the stage of a public hearing.
Some regional legislatures have passed laws which act to complement the
federal legislation. Although there have been no successful criminal
prosecutions under any of these laws, local councils, public authorities and
corporations have taken action to ensure that the laws have not been
breached, and many complaints lodged under NSW and Australian Capital
Territory law have been successfully conciliated. Further, a variety of
sporting bodies introduced anti-racism codes of conduct during the year in
review. The focus in all cases was on offensive language. Individuals who
are victims of more extreme acts of anti-Semitic intimidation do have re-course
to other laws, such as those covering assault, "stalking" and misuse
of telecommunication services.
A voluntary regulatory body, the Australian Press Council was, until the
passage of anti-racism laws in a number of states and now federally, the
most significant body which considered complaints of anti-Semitism.
Although it no longer plays the same key role, it remains another arena for
disputes to be resolved over questions relating to racism and anti-Semitism.
Concern at racism in the wake of statements by the One Nation party
leader prompted counter-reactions from a number of opinion leaders,
including current Prime Minister John Howard and former prime ministers.
Most state and territory legislatures passed motions condemning racism,
calling for reconciliation and affirming the values of tolerance and diversity,
during the past two years. An outstanding moral voice against racism came
from Governor-General Sir William Deane, who made a series of speeches
on the theme during the latter part of the year.
Churches were also important proponents of diversity and tolerance,
often in cooperation with the Jewish community. One of the important ways
in which church and service organizations assert moral leadership against
anti-Semitism is by refusing to allow racist and anti-Jewish groups to hire
their premises and by advising representatives not to share platforms with
known extremists. As a result, extremist anti-Jewish groups are reportedly
experiencing increasing difficulty in finding premises in which to meet and
in convincing respectable Australians to participate in their activities.