Dalit History Month | NSW Parliamentary Report on Right-Wing Extremism Submitted, Recognises Caste Discrimination as Aspect of Far-Right Threat

Sydney – The NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety has submitted its final report, Measures to combat right-wing extremism in New South Wales, to Parliament. The report examines the threat posed by right-wing extremist movements in NSW and identifies best-practice methods to minimise these risks.

The inquiry was referred to the committee in late 2025 following a neo-Nazi rally outside NSW Parliament House on 8 November 2025. According to the report, around 60 men from the National Socialist Network, wearing black jackets with 'HH' on them, posed for photos in front of a banner stating 'Abolish the Jewish Lobby' and chanted a slogan associated with the Hitler Youth. The Premier described the event as a "shocking display of hatred and racism and antisemitism."

Major Findings in the Report

Finding 1 of the report states: "Right-wing extremism poses a threat to all NSW communities. Rooted in white supremacy and antisemitism, it poses a particular threat to Jewish communities and other ethnic and religious minorities, as well as LGBTQIA+ people and women. Right-wing extremism ultimately threatens public safety, social cohesion and liberal democracy in NSW."

Finding 2 states: "Prejudice fuels extremism. Right-wing extremists promote forms of hate such as antisemitism, racism, islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny and encourage these forms of hate becoming part of mainstream political discourse."

Finding 3 states: "Right-wing extremism erodes trust in democracy and public institutions and exploits topical grievances."

According to paragraph 1.12 of the report, right-wing extremists disproportionately target marginalised and minoritised communities, including the Jewish community, LGBTQIA+ individuals, Indigenous Australians, women, and ethnic and religious minorities including the Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist communities.

Regarding the National Socialist Network, Finding 6 states: "Despite the National Socialist Network announcing it has disbanded, its members continue to pose a real threat to the safety of NSW communities."

The report documents multiple right-wing extremist incidents, including a neo-Nazi group standing outside the Victorian Parliament holding a banner stating 'Jews Hate Freedom' in December 2024, a neo-Nazi demonstration at a queer film festival in Albury in 2024 displaying a sign stating 'destroy paedo freaks', and on 26 January 2026, members of a neo-Nazi organisation appearing and being removed from a March for Australia rally in Sydney.

Dr Josh Roose of Deakin University informed the committee that the extreme right has "shifted from fringe activity to a broad and adaptive threat in NSW." Equality Australia submitted that far-right extremism is "no longer a marginal or abstract threat in Australia" but "a present and escalating risk."

Reporting Pathways and Recommendation

The committee heard that reporting pathways for victims of hate crimes could be improved to be better suited to particular communities. The Challenging Racism Project from Western Sydney University submitted that research indicates Australians do not report incidents of racism, largely due to a "lack of trust in statutory agencies" and poor responses received from giving racism reports. Trans Justice echoed this, stating that past institutional failures to act on reports represent a main barrier for LGBTQIA+ people in reporting hate crime incidents. Equality Australia stressed the need for police to be trained on how to identify hate speech and hate crimes as they are experienced by LGBTQIA+ communities.

Heather Corkhill from Equality Australia proposed community-based reporting for the LGBTQIA+ community and referred to the Islamophobia Register as a useful example. The committee was also informed that the Jewish Board of Deputies maintains a platform for reporting antisemitic incidents and hate speech.

The report notes in paragraph 2.52 that the National Security Hotline allows members of the public to report information of concern regarding national security, including expressions of extremist ideology, concerning behavioural changes, attempts to radicalise others, and indicators of preparation for violence. However, the hotline does not directly service particular targeted communities.

Recommendation 2 of the final report states: "That the NSW Government fund community reporting services for hate crimes directed at specific communities."

PATCA's Evidence to the Inquiry

PATCA played a central role in the inquiry, providing detailed evidence of caste-based discrimination and far-right Hindu extremism within the Indian Australian diaspora.

PATCA lodged Submission No. 8 on 22 January 2026, arguing that far-right Hindu extremism, rooted in Hindutva ideology and Brahminism, operates as a distinct form of right-wing extremism in New South Wales. The submission described this extremism as manifesting through diaspora networks, cultural organisations, religious education programs, youth initiatives, and publicly funded institutions. It stated that caste-based supremacist ideology justifies dehumanisation, exclusion, and hostility toward Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Tamil, South Indian, and other marginalised communities.

The submission highlighted cumulative harms including normalisation of hate, social and economic boycotts, psychological injury, identity erasure, chilling effects on speech, and intergenerational fear. It noted that the Australian Human Rights Commission has recognised caste discrimination as an intersectional form of racism affecting education, employment, and public life. PATCA warned that young people and recent migrants are primary targets through youth camps, cultural classes, religious instruction, and online spaces that portray Hindu identity as under threat.

PATCA recommended that the NSW Government formally recognise far-right Hindu extremism in policy frameworks, incorporate caste-based ideology into extremism risk assessments, apply safeguards to publicly funded organisations with transnational linkages, establish independent oversight of faith-based education programs, resource community-led reporting of non-violent extremist harm, and amend anti-discrimination laws to recognise caste as a protected attribute.

On 18 February 2026, during an in-camera session at Parliament House, PATCA representatives Witness B and Witness C gave evidence alongside a representative from the Alliance Against Islamophobia (Australia). The session was resolved for publication on 19 February 2026.

Witness B, identifying as a practising Hindu from a caste-oppressed background who moved to Sydney in 2019, described everyday experiences including caste inferred from names in workplaces, credibility questioned, leadership opportunities blocked, and pressure to remain silent for "community harmony." Witness B stated that caste-oppressed Hindus are mocked as "quota," "lesser," or "not real Hindus," with dissent punished and equality framed as an attack.

A specific example provided to the committee involved an 11-year-old girl denied bathroom access at school by an upper-caste teacher. Witness C said this could cause lifelong psychological scarring and exemplifies supremacist conduct in education.

Other examples included mockery and exclusion of caste-oppressed individuals as "lesser" in community settings, social boycotts, intimidation and silencing through denial and gaslighting, government-funded venues serving only vegetarian food (such as Karma Kitchen) effectively excluding communities associated with meat-eating and reinforcing notions of impurity, and public Diwali events burning effigies of Ravana, a deity revered by some caste-oppressed and indigenous groups, causing distress and exclusion.

The witnesses emphasised that their concerns centre on patterns of supremacy, dehumanisation of minorities, and organised hate, common to other right-wing extremist movements, rather than Hinduism or religion. They described these as political ideologies operating under the guise of multiculturalism and religious tradition.

On 27 February 2026, Witness C provided a formal clarification letter to the committee addressing three points from the in-camera transcript.

Read the full report here: