Nationalist activist Thomas Sewell has raised at least $100,000 to mount a High Court challenge to Australia’s new “hate speech” and “hate groups” laws on constitutional grounds.
Mr Sewell started crowdfunding on Thursday to fight the laws, which he believes violate the implied right to political communication guaranteed to all Australians under the Constitution, and by Friday evening had the fundraiser had already generated $100,000 from 756 GiveSendGo donors, at the time of writing.
The fundraiser was started two days after Mr Sewell and other then-leaders of the National Socialist Network (NSN) and co-project White Australia – that was in the process of registering with the Australian Electoral Commission to contest upcoming elections – announced they were disbanding in response to the legislation, as it makes their political activism illegal due to its retroactive elements and comes with jail terms of up to 15 years.
Mr Sewell told Noticer News Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 was aimed at stopping White Australians from speaking freely and organising politically.
“The Labor government is effectively trying to pass a bill that bans political opposition to their anti-White Australia agenda, and it’s aimed only at White Australians, who they hate and see as a threat,” he said.
“That’s all this bill is, it’s the anti-White Australia bill, and the anti-free speech bill.”
The bill will be presented to parliament on Monday, and is expected to pass despite opposition from the Coalition, One Nation, the Greens, Jewish groups and civil libertarians, for a variety of different and conflicting reasons.
The Prohibited Hate Groups component of the bill allows the government to ban organisations who have engaged in or advocated for “hate crimes” based on past conduct and conduct that was not illegal at the time, with no criminal prosecution or procedural fairness required.
BREAKING: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced new hate crime laws that will be introduced in the new year.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is set to target the NSN so they can be listed as a prohibited organisation despite not meeting the terrorism threshold. pic.twitter.com/ipDQyVTkQx
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) December 22, 2025
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Monday that the laws, which were drafted in consultation with the Jewish community, were aimed at shutting down the NSN and Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which he said he had been previously unable to ban because they had not broken the law or incited violence, repeating similar comments he made in late December.
The proposed legislation will also make Australia’s “hate speech” laws even stricter than those in force in the UK, where 30 people per day are arrested for social media posts.
“In the last 18 months, the Australian Government has passed a number of laws that impede the Australian Constitution’s implied right to political communication,” Mr Sewell wrote on the fundraiser.
“In recent days, the Australian Labor Party has proposed further legislation that effectively bans individuals from organising into political groups for the purpose of participating in political communication if the active government dislikes the communication.
“I have enquired with a number of highly respected law firms who wish to take the case to the High Court of Australia and challenge the existing and the proposed anti-free speech legislation.
“This will be a landmark case in protecting the rights of all Australians to politically communicate and organise for generations to come. It will also have a political flow on effect to other nations in the Anglosphere such as the UK, Canada and New Zealand, who face similar draconian legislation.
“All donations to this cause will go towards the legal battle for free speech and political communication in Australia.”
In a post on Telegram Mr Sewell wrote that the funds would go to him as an individual, and that he would place the money in a legal trust after deciding which law firm to proceed with.
“The fundraising is in no way a breach of the proposed laws itself, and the High Court challenge will proceed with attempting to strike out the laws against free speech that have already passed even if the current proposed laws fail to pass through parliament next week,” he wrote.
Header image: Thomas Sewell (GiveSendGo).
The post Thomas Sewell raises $100K in one day to fight Australia’s ‘hate speech’ laws in High Court first appeared on The Noticer.
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