Background Briefing artwork

Haircuts and hate

Background Briefing

English - March 21, 2019 06:05 - 45 minutes - 63 MB - ★★★★★ - 20 ratings
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On Friday 15 March 2019 an Australian man opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, killing 50 people and wounding as many.

There has been much speculation since about where he came from and what his motivations were.

A manifesto published online by the shooter before the attacks bears many of the hallmarks of white supremacist rhetoric, including anti-immigrant sentiments and white genocide conspiracy theories – views that align with those of Australia’s Alt Right, which we investigated in a program late last year.

In this replay of our investigation into how Australia’s Alt Right has been covertly influencing mainstream politics, Alex Mann tracks operatives from a secretive fight club in Sydney to the moment one member was elected to the NSW executive of the Young Nationals.  

He also confronts the men involved and asks: what is their vision for Australia, and how far are they willing to go to achieve it?

We’re not suggesting these men were in any way involved in the Christchurch mosque shooting.

Since we first broadcast this story – the members we exposed have been kicked out of the Young Nationals.

This is a repeat of a program that aired in October 2018.