Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to bring to the attention of the House a verdict that was announced yesterday by the court of Athens against the political party Golden Dawn. I do so because there is a branch of Golden Dawn here in Australia that's operating and has been operating for a number of years. This was a landmark decision yesterday by the Athens court, which deemed the neofascist political party as being a criminal organisation. The party leaders were found guilty of leading a criminal organisation.

After the verdict, Amnesty International's Europe director said that this verdict sends a clear message to political groups with aggressive antimigrant and anti-human-rights agendas, whether they be individuals, members of parliament or leaders of political parties, that their crimes will not go unpunished.

The hearings against Golden Dawn, which began in April 2015, have been the biggest trials of neofascists since the prosecution of Nazis at Nuremberg following World War II. The Golden Dawn party targeted migrants, trade unionists, members of the gay communities and progressives. All of this led to the stabbing murder of antifascist music rapper Pavlos Fyssas a few years ago.

Prior to the trials, I'm proud to say, 137 prominent Greek-Australians, including myself, signed a petition condemning the criminal behaviour of Golden Dawn. This was sent to Athens. Extreme politics with extreme anti-human-rights views— (Time expired)