Daily London
A neo-Nazi who attended a Sydney rally has been detained a day after his visa was cancelled and he is expected to be deported to South Africa.
Matthew Gruter had been in Australia for around three years before the federal government revoked his visa after he was identified as having been at the protest.
At 4am today, Gruter was picked up by Australian Border Force agents from his North Sydney unit.
He is now in the Villawood detention centre awaiting deportation to South Africa after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled his visa.
“If you’re on a visa, you’re a guest in Australia, and if a guest turns up at your home, you’ve got expectations as to how they’ll behave,” Burke said.
“If someone turns up for the purpose of just abusing people and wrecking the place and damaging the cohesion, you can ask them to leave.”
Gruter has indicated he will exhaust all legal avenues to stay in Australia.
He is employed as a civil engineer and has travelled widely with his wife.
”There is no place in Australia for those hateful views,” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said.
“Freedom of speech does not extend to being divisive and hateful about people in our community.”
On November 8, 60 protesters from the National Socialist Network held up a sign reading “Abolish the Jewish Lobby” outside NSW parliament.
The neo-Nazis applied to protest ahead of time and made clear their intention to rally against Jewish groups.
They were given the green light by police but both NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Premier Chris Minns were unaware of the protest until after it took place.
Police are investigating the failure of officers to notify the senior leadership of the rally.
The demonstration resulted in calls for tougher laws as well as an investigation into why the group was legally allowed to protest outside NSW parliament.
