Charity Investigates Victorian Branch Over Funding for White Nationalist Groups

A national charity has launched an internal investigation into its Victorian branch after concerns were raised about funding for far-right, white nationalist organisations.

The investigation began after it was discovered that the Victorian branch of the English-Speaking Union (ESU) had made a $2,000 grant to a white nationalist online publication called The National Observer (TNO).

Background on The National Observer

TNO has published several articles and hosted a podcast with views that have been described as white nationalist. In a recent article titled "Australian Remigration — What it would look like, and how it could be achieved tomorrow", TNO called for the "accelerated removal of non-citizens" and for incentivising the permanent "departure" of some Australians who hold dual citizenship.

Another recent TNO article was titled "Are White Australians being replaced? The media says it's a conspiracy theory, the data says otherwise". The National Observer also has its own weekly podcast hosted by its founder, who goes by the name "John Lawson".

ESU Victoria's Response

In a statement, ESU Victoria defended awarding the grant to TNO, saying that the publication's application relied on its provision of independent podcasts promoting Australian culture, heritage and language.

"The National Observer's application relied on its provision of independent podcasts promoting Australian culture, heritage and language. That application sought funding for the purchase of media equipment (lapel microphones) and website development."

However, the national charity's parent body, ESU Australia, has taken a different stance, saying it takes the matter seriously and has launched an internal investigation.

"AESU is a non-partisan, non-political organisation. We do not engage in political advocacy, nor do we support donations to political organisations or to any organisation that does not uphold the ESU's purpose and mission,"

Ties to Far-Right Groups

It has also been revealed that ESU Victoria shares a building with a far-right political interest group called the British Australian Community (BAC). The BAC has engaged in white nationalist rhetoric, including advocating for remigration, which is the deportation of those of non-European heritage.

ESU Victoria president Robert Furlan was previously a secretary of the BAC, and company records show that the current secretary of the BAC is Frank Salter, who co-founded an organisation in the 1970s called the Australian National Alliance (ANA).

Call for Investigation

Extremism researcher Josh Roose, from Deakin University, has called for the federal government to investigate the charitable status of ESU Victoria, saying that the branch appeared to share some of the more "traditionalist pseudo-intellectual elements" of the far right or the extreme right.