Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7am.
Chapter 2: What recent actions has the government taken against neo-Nazi organizations?
Last month, the federal government announced that the biggest neo-Nazi organisation in the country would be listed as a hate group. A few days ago, The Age revealed the group's former leader, Thomas Sewell, has been living in a $2.5 million estate in Melbourne's suburbs. So what are Sewell's plans for the compound and who are the wealthy backers making it possible?
Today, crime reporter at The Age, Sharon Grotch, on the neo-Nazis' next move. It's Wednesday, June 10.
Chapter 3: Who is Thomas Sewell and what is his connection to the neo-Nazi compound?
Sharon, you've been reporting for some time now on Thomas Sewell, who is the neo-Nazi who's currently on bail ahead of the trial of the alleged attack on camp sovereignty last year. You've recently been looking into where he's been living. So tell me what you found.
Well, late last year, I heard a rumour that Saul and his neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network, had been gifted a property in Victoria. They'd been trying to get land for a while to start a white compound so they can train and start building their white ethnostate. But I didn't expect to find a mansion anywhere.
Chapter 4: What are the features and significance of the property owned by Sewell?
It's a multi-million dollar property in the state's northeast. It's many, many acres. There's a pool, there's a gym, there's more than 10 bedrooms. Of course, none of this is in Saul's own name. He's been blacklisted by most banks these days. It was actually bought for him through a shell company owned by a wealthy National Socialist Network member who had until now kept a pretty low profile.
And speaking to my sources and digging into it a bit more, I realise there's quite a few other neo-Nazis living at the property with Saul and his family too.
Chapter 5: How did the property come to be associated with Thomas Sewell?
Obviously, none of the Nazis he is banned from associating with under his bail conditions because he's still to face court over the alleged attack on an Indigenous camp in Melbourne last year. But it's definitely become a new base for the movement, this house.
Okay, so you said the house was bought through a shell company. Tell me about how you actually connected it to Sulman.
Well, I started looking at real estate listings, believe it or not, once I had that tip, to see what had been sold recently. I was looking at a much lower price point, to be honest.
Chapter 6: Who is Martin Featherstone and what role does he play in this situation?
Sul started bragging about the property on his live streams to followers, saying, you know, it's about 40 minutes from the city, dropping a few little clues. He was then spotted in a few suburbs sort of nearby and that helped me narrow it down. But then I got another tip and that really unlocked things. That was the name of the shell company which had bought the house.
So when I looked into the guy that owned that, he was a man named Martin Featherstone.
Chapter 7: What are the implications of the neo-Nazi group's recent legal challenges?
He had millions of dollars in property, two really big mansions built. just minutes away from each other in the same suburb. And so I went out there and locals had told me they had seen some of the Nazis around. And then Sewell's Nazi group actually filed some paperwork, which had the address of the compound listed. So I could finally confirm it last month.
I didn't have to do a door knock after all, thank God.
And so tell me more then about Martin Featherstone, the man who actually owns the property. Who is he?
Yeah, so Marty Featherstone, he hadn't really been on our radar before. He's the son of a wealthy family who run a multi-million dollar trucking business in Melbourne. They sold that fairly recently and he's become a really wealthy man.
Chapter 8: How is the neo-Nazi movement trying to legitimize itself politically?
He didn't end up coming back to me and my questions, sadly. I would have loved to have heard more of his story, but certainly online he calls himself a white nationalist, a proud racist. He's been out with the NSN marching at recent March for Australia rallies that they helped organise.
He posts some pretty extreme things, including about putting parliaments to the sword and bashing people of colour. And he says that he can speak out for Sewell's group because he can't be cancelled or fired the way other neo-Nazis in the group have when they've been unmasked.
So when I went back through some of the photos we took, because we actually got a tip in January about where the NSN was holding its final Nazi training session back when they claimed to have disbanded. And I found him there in the pictures right next to Sewell. There he was. And the interesting thing was that he was wearing the white wristband that denotes long-term membership of the NSN.
And when I spoke to some sources, they told me, oh, yeah, Marty's a proper member. So that started to kind of join a few dots for me then.
Okay and so before we go any further so the neo-Nazi group that Saul used to run it's supposed to have been outlawed now it's listed as a prohibited hate group they have said that they disbanded and yet there appears to be this level of organization happening here when it comes to this property so tell me your understanding of of the legal position here.
Yeah, so the government banned the NSN and its political offshoot, White Australia, last month under the new extremism crackdown. And they designated them as a hate group instead of a full-blown terror group. But anyone found to be a member or supporting them financially or recruiting for them, you can face up to 15 years in jail. They're really tough laws.
The group actually tried to get ahead of these laws and claimed to disband in Jan, but the government said, look, they're just phoenixing under new names and forms. And we have reported on that as well. They're still very much active neo-Nazis. But I guess what our investigation has uncovered is that their ecosystem and their network is bigger than we realise. They're holding...
assets and companies in other people's names through wealthy associates and some of their less high profile members. But I guess while some experts say, look, the government needs to just follow the money, go after them the way they go after organised crime.
It's actually pretty tricky for the authorities to seize this, I mean, even under the new laws, because, you know, you can still own property. As we've now discovered, Nazis can be millionaires and if it's legitimate money, it's legitimate money.
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