Controversial speakers to appear include Shermon Burgess, a reputed member of the Australian Defence League, and cartoonist Larry Pickering

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

An anti-Islamic group called Reclaim Australia is planning 16 rallies across the country on Saturday to be addressed by controversial speakers including a reputed member of the far-right Australian Defence League.



Counter-demonstrations are being organised in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and other sites by leftwing activists, who say people may attend the events – branded as “protecting the Australian way of life” – without being aware of their links to extremist groups.

Among the speakers at the Reclaim Australia rallies – the first nationally coordinated event of its kind – will be Cooma council worker Shermon Burgess, a reputed member of the ADL, which last year reportedly threatened to bomb mosques and murder Australia’s most senior Sunni Muslim cleric.

Burgess maintains a website under the alias the Great Aussie Patriot, where he posts videos by rightwing nationalist groups and warnings about the perceived dangers of Islam.

His website also promotes his band, Eureka Brigade, who have written songs such as Shit on a Mosque and ADL Killing Machine.

The Newcastle rally will be addressed by the former One Nation candidate Mike Holt, who has a wide following on social media where he regularly posts material critical of Islam.



One post last November featured pictures of hollow bullets, which Holt wrote had the “added bonus” of being able to hold pig’s grease – an apparent reference to Islamic dietary laws, which prohibit the consumption of any pork products.

Holt told Guardian Australia the rallies were intended to “stop this racism against us by Islam”. “We’re not the racists, we’re patriots. And besides, Islam is not a race,” he said.

Organisers of the rally insisted Reclaim Australia was not a racist organisation and did not target all Muslims.

“We’re not out to demonise the larger Muslim population because we can see the good that they’ve done. You can see that they’ve denounced terrorism,” a spokesman, John Oliver, said.

He said the rally was about voicing opposition to “a small element” of violent extremists among Australian Muslims, as well as Islamic law, halal certification and the federal anti-discrimination act.

“I’ve done a bit of research online,” he said. “Everything you see online coupled with what you see on television, that gives people a rational fear, and that rational fear is spreading from one thing, that’s Islam. If we’re racist saying we don’t want that small element in Australia, then I’m happy to wear that badge.”

He defended the involvement of Burgess in the rallies, saying he had “his heart in the right place”, but admitted his video recordings and ties to the ADL “have done us absolutely no justice”.

A press release issued by organisers on Tuesday said: “We are not a racist hate group affiliated with any other group, nor neo-Nazi or white supremacist. In fact it is the opposite. We are simply patriotic and love our country, our nation and the law that supports our values and our lifestyle.”

Organisers of the event, which has more than 20,000 likes on its Facebook page, have said that anyone displaying neo-Nazi or extremist material will be asked to leave.

Other scheduled speakers include the cartoonist Larry Pickering, who will address the Gold Coast rally, and the evangelical Christian preacher Danny Nalliah, who will speak in Melbourne. Nalliah is the leader of the Catch the Fire ministries, which hosted the World Congress of Families conference in August, and was the lead candidate for the Rise Up Australia party in November’s Victorian election.

The event has been promoted on American white nationalist websites. A post on the Daily Stormer website encouraged “White Australian men” to attend, saying “the people that you’ll find at Reclaim Australia are very valuable to us in the long term”.

“They’re on the right track and, with our guidance, they can be turned into hardcore Nazis,” it said.

Organisers of the counter-demonstrations said they expected large turnouts in most capital cities.