Australian tribunal calls One Nation volunteer’s ideologies neo-Nazi — ABC News Australia
In Australia, David Donis, who volunteered for the One Nation party during the Secret Harbour by-election, was mentioned in a 2023 federal tribunal decision. According to ABC News Australia, on August 27 he handed out One Nation election materials at a polling station at Singleton Primary School, and in the evening he was photographed near the stage at an event celebrating the party’s victory.
Tribunal findings
In 2023, Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a case concerning a military reservist’s access to classified information and upheld ASIO’s decision to revoke his NV1-level clearance. The case materials referred to the reservist’s close ties to Donis and the Society of Western Australian Nationalists (SWAN).
The tribunal accepted evidence of Donis’s membership in SWAN and described the organisation as a nationalist and racist extremist group. The decision stated that Donis, who was SWAN’s co-founder and president, and its other members held and promoted racist and neo-Nazi ideologies, and also supported politically motivated violence and violence between communities. Donis had previously denied promoting neo-Nazi ideologies.
SWAN emerged around 2018 or early 2019. In October 2023, its members voted to voluntarily deregister the organisation due to inactivity.
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One Nation’s reaction
One Nation said that the person identified by ABC as David Donis is not a member of the party. A party representative stressed that One Nation does not endorse extremist views and responds promptly to such cases. According to ABC, Donis was a volunteer rather than a formal party member, and he will not be allowed to remain affiliated with One Nation.
Two ABC sources also described an incident at the polling station: according to them, Donis shouted at a female voter who was leaving the premises after voting. Witnesses said that other volunteers intervened to calm him down. ABC was unable to contact Donis for comment.
One Nation’s leader in Western Australia, Rod Caddis, said that the party would expel an extremist if that person had concealed their views and infiltrated its ranks.
