June 30, 2026 — 1:54pmNeo-Nazi and political hopeful Thomas Sewell has received a stern dressing down over a racist protest outside the Chinese consulate and a reminder from a magistrate that the offender is also an immigrant.Magistrate Patrick Southey said he wished there were harsher penalties he could impose on New Zealand-born Sewell, who stood outside the Toorak consulate with a group of masked neo-Nazis, chanting “white man fight back” and hurling racial abuse.Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell faced court over a protest at the Chinese consulate in Toorak.Justin McManus“I know you’ve lived in this county a long time but some might say you’re yet to learn what it is to be Australian. We’re meant to be an easy-going, tolerant, diverse society, made up of all sorts of backgrounds, welcoming to immigrants - like you,” Southey said. “I can’t fine you enough in my view. Parliament needs to think about that.”The court heard Sewell and the group gathered on October 26, 2024, in response to an incident in Brisbane where a Chinese national badly injured a baby by throwing hot coffee on him and flew out of Australia before he could be detained.Sewell had argued his group was protesting in response because there was no extradition treaty in place between the two countries to address the “horrific crime”. Sewell maintained his actions were free speech, political communication and part of a robust debate.But the magistrate found that it was unmistakably a repugnant, neo-Nazi gathering that would have left any reasonable person who saw the thugs humiliating people in public questioning what Australia was coming to.Southey said Sewell could have made his point without using racial slurs, noting his followers chose to hide their faces at the scene.“Implied freedom … is not absolute,” he said. “Really and truly, Mr Sewell, it looked like Germany in the 1930s. People with their faces covered, you threatening to hang someone. It was ugly behaviour, it’s intolerable.“What’s even more frustrating is that here in the court, you conduct yourself impeccably. You let yourself down when you get out on the streets with your mates.”Sewell, who was found guilty of offensive behaviour, has prior offences for affray and recklessly causing injury in 2021, and later, violent disorder, for which he was jailed for one month.The prosecution did not ask for Sewell to be jailed and instead said a community corrections order was within the sentencing range.The charge carries a maximum penalty of two months’ jail or a $2000 fine.“He’s had two CCOs. They’re not going to change his view of the world,” the magistrate said.The court heard Sewell was working full-time until he recently turned his focus to building a political party.Sewell was the leader of the National Socialist Network until it disbanded on paper in January in an attempt to evade the government’s crackdown on extremism.He now heads up their political offshoot, White Australia, which lost a High Court fight for an injunction against the hate laws, on the basis that banning the organisation infringes on the implied right to political freedom in Australia.Southey sentenced Sewell to an 18-month community corrections order with 200 hours of community service.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.More:CourtsNazis Next DoorFor subscribersRacismExtremismFrom our partners