From the Old Guard to the Lads Movement: Hybrid Racism and White Supremacism in Australia

This chapter compares contemporary far-right movements in Australia with far-right movements from the 1930s. By examining the provenance and manifestations of the far right in these periods, the chapter notes the importance of Australia’s early history, especially with regard to the “White Australia Policy” that contributed to a rejection of Australia’s Indigenous population as well as non-white immigration. Movements from both eras, apart from their resurgence during times of apparent or feared economic decline, are shown to exhibit similar characteristics in adherence to a nativist populism, hybrid racism, ambivalence to democracy, and congruence with transnational far-right movements. The chapter concludes that as late as 2019 the ruling coalition government in Australia gained from a politically expedient electoral relationship with a xenophobic far right with roots in earlier far-right movements.