Neil Erikson

Neil Erikson
Neil Erikson
	Erikson (pointing) in 2019
Born	1985 (age 38–39)
Known for	Founding United Patriots Front; Antisemitism; Far-right activism; Criminal convictions; Neo-Nazism;
Political party	United Patriots Front/Lads Society (2015–present); Conservative Nationals (2019);
Criminal penalty	Psychological assessment and treatment in the community (stalking); Fined $2000 (inciting contempt against Muslims);

Neil Erikson is an Australian far-right extremist and self-proclaimed neo-Nazi.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Erikson gained attention after posting a video of himself verbally abusing Iranian-born former Labor senator Sam Dastyari in a Melbourne bar. During the verbal attack, Erikson called Dastyari a "terrorist" and a "little monkey" and told him to "go back home".^[7]^[8] Erikson espouses the antisemitic canard and Jewish conspiracy theory of cultural Marxism.^[9]

Erikson is one of the founders or leaders of the far-right neo-Nazi United Patriots Front and the Lads Society. He has been charged and convicted of multiple offences including assault, inciting contempt against Muslims, stalking, affray and riotous behaviour, making threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties, and disturbing religious worship.^[3]^[10]^[11]^[12]

Activities

Stalking

In 2014, Erikson was convicted of stalking. Charges were laid after Erikson called Rabbi Dovid Gutnick, threatening and insulting him. He spoke of circumcisions, blood money and Jewish sidelocks, and told Gutnick he knew his location and was coming to get him unless he paid. Magistrate Donna Bakos said Erikson's calls were motivated by prejudice and found he had little remorse for his crime.^[13]

Islamophobia

In September 2017, Erikson (by then a member of the Cooks Convicts^{[citation needed]} and UPF members Chris Shortis and Blair Cottrell were found guilty of inciting contempt against Muslims after they made a video of a fake beheading while protesting the building of a mosque in Bendigo.^[14]^[2]

Threatening clergyman

In 2018, Erikson was charged with making threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties and disturbing religious worship, after he interrupted a church service at the Gosford Anglican Church by marching into the church dressed as Jesus Christ, holding a whip.^[15] As of March 2019^[update], Erikson had outstanding warrants and was wanted by NSW Police regarding an outstanding non-custodial arrest warrant related to the offence.^[16]

White genocide conspiracy theory

In 2018, Erikson attended a rally in Perth run by Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie and Ian Goodenough in support of White South African farmers wanting to immigrate owing to South African farm attacks, a cause drumming up sympathy on the far-right, based partly on the White genocide conspiracy theory.^[17]

Attending LNP event

Also in 2018, Erikson attended a Gold Coast "recruitment event" for the Liberal National Party of Queensland, for which he claims his flights were paid by someone else.^[18]

Fraser Anning

In 2019, Erikson was involved in an altercation between Queensland Senator Fraser Anning and a 17-year-old boy. Erikson was recorded restraining the 17-year-old after the boy crushed an egg on the back of Anning's head while he was speaking at a political meeting in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin. The teenager egged Anning in response to comments made by the senator about the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, claiming that Muslim immigration had led to the attacks.^[19] Erikson and a number of other UPF members tackled the boy to the ground, putting him in a headlock and repeatedly kicking and punching him.^[20]

Further convictions and jail

On 11 May 2021, Erikson was sentenced to one month jail at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, after refusing a community correction order and de-radicalisation program. Erikson lodged an appeal against the sentence in the County Court, which is scheduled for August 2021.^[21]

On 30 July 2021, Erikson was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to 10 weeks jail for hurling homophobic abuse in a church in Hawthorn in May 2019. He was granted bail.^[22]

References

^ "No jail for Melb man for racist calls". SBS. Special Broadcasting Service. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b Cooper, Adam (5 April 2017). "Far-right trio convicted, fined $2000 each, over mock-beheading mosque protest". The Age. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b Graham, Ben (28 November 2018). "Secret location of Aussie underground fight club leaks". News.com.au. news.com.au. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ Toohey, Paul. "Mind wars: The extremists taking Australia to dark places". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ Hall, Bianca (2 August 2015). "Police investigate kill threats against Councillor Stephen Jolly". The Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Nathan, Julie (31 January 2018). "The Rise of Australia's Activist Far Right: How Far Will It Go?". ABC. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ Sam Dastyari:Percy, Karen (13 March 2018). "Judge scolds far-right activist Neil Erikson as 'childish' for wearing uniform to court". ABC News. ABC. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ "Stan takes legal action over Patriot Blue after racial attack on Dastyari". SBS News. SBS. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Koslowski, Max (11 January 2019). "How Australia's far-right were divided and conquered - by themselves". The Sydney Morning Herald.
^ Toohey, Paul. "Mind wars: The extremists taking Australia to dark places". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ Hall, Bianca (2 August 2015). "Police investigate kill threats against Councillor Stephen Jolly". The Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Nathan, Julie (31 January 2018). "The Rise of Australia's Activist Far Right: How Far Will It Go?". ABC. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ "No jail for Melb man for racist calls". SBS News. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
^ "United Patriots Front trio found guilty of inciting serious contempt of Muslims". The Guardian. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
^ Butler, Josh (21 May 2018). "White Nationalist Extremists Storm Gosford Church". 10 Daily. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
^ Bali, Meghna (20 March 2019). "Man who tackled 'Eggboy' has outstanding warrant on charges relating to church incident". Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
^ Martin, Sarah (1 May 2019). "Video shows far-right extremist Neil Erikson at rally headlined by Hastie and Goodenough". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^ Martin, Sarah; Knaus, Christopher (3 May 2019). "Neil Erikson attended Gold Coast 'recruitment event' for the Liberal National party". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^ "Fraser Anning punches teen after being egged while speaking to media in Melbourne". Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
^ Young, Matt; Molloy, Shannon; Smith, Rohan (18 March 2019). "Christchurch mosque shootings: Senator Fraser Anning slammed". News.com.au. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^ "Far-right extremist lodges appeal against jail term just hours after being taken into custody". ABC News. 11 May 2021.
^ "Extremist bailed to appeal abuse sentence". 2 August 2021.