A South African man whose visa was cancelled after attending a neo-Nazi rally in Sydney has been detained by immigration agents in a pre-dawn operation and taken to Villawood detention centre. Matthew Gruter, a South African national, is reportedly planning to fight his deportation, with his organisation, White Australia, raising $20,000 for his legal defence.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke defended the decision to cancel Gruter's visa, stating: “What could be a clearer example of someone showing they don’t care about cohesion in Australia, than turning up to a Nazi rally?” Burke announced the visa cancellation on Monday, more than a week after the neo-Nazi group’s anti-Jewish protest outside the New South Wales state parliament, which included chants of the Hitler Youth phrase “blood and honour”.
Burke said on Tuesday that Gruter was taken into detention between 4am and 5am, and will remain at Villawood until deported. “Multicultural Australia and modern Australia are the same thing. Someone who gets involved in neo-Nazism in Australia shouldn’t pretend they’re somehow patriotic. They hate modern Australia,” Burke added.
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonno Duniam, backed Burke’s decision, saying: “There is no room in Australia for clowns like that who want to come here and preach hate – go back to where you came from, frankly.” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong also condemned the views, stating: “Freedom of speech does not extend to being divisive and hateful about people in our community.”
Burke noted that Gruter has “very limited” options to appeal, as the visa was cancelled by ministerial decision rather than by the immigration department, and expects he “will be gone very soon”. However, it is understood Gruter can appeal the decision through the court system.
