When Liberal Senator Ben Small - who holds the seat of Forrest, the electorate where we live - said he was "heartened" to see "patriotic pride" at the March for Australia rallies, rallies where neo-Nazis shouted "Heil Australia" and after which a sacred Aboriginal site was violently attacked, his words gave moral cover to racism, xenophobia and white supremacy.

This is not about "a few extremists". As academics like Liam Gillespie have noted, framing far-right violence as the work of isolated radicals hides how deeply racism and ethnic nationalism are woven into Australian politics and culture. It allows politicians like Senator Small, Jacinta Price, Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter to pose as defenders of "free speech" or "social cohesion" while ignoring the racism and violence occurring in plain sight.

On the same day Senator Small praised "patriotism", black-clad men stormed Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne - a site established by Krautungalung Elder Robbie Thorpe, home to the repatriated remains of 38 Aboriginal people, and a place of ceremony and healing. They came armed with sticks and rods. They stomped on the Aboriginal flag. They desecrated sacred fires. They assaulted Aboriginal people holding vigil on their own land.

This was no random act. It was a hate crime - a coordinated attack aimed at silencing both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and migrants, the "oldest" and "newest" Australians, in a single display of white supremacy.

Thomas Sewell, the neo-Nazi leader now facing 25 charges over the attack, is no anomaly. He follows a long line of far-right actors - Reclaim Australia, United Patriots Front, True Blue Crew, National Socialist Network. The names change. The violence doesn't.

While neo-Nazis were attacking Camp Sovereignty, politicians including Hanson and Katter were at rallies giving political legitimacy to a movement steeped in racism and division. In the days that followed, the Senate had the chance to send a clear message but failed - voting down motions explicitly condemning neo-Nazis and hate crimes.

Labor softened its language, while the Liberal Party and key crossbenchers refused to back amendments naming white supremacy as the threat it is. At the same time, Senator Price pushed race-baiting conspiracy theories about Indian migrants before hurriedly walking them back. And Senator Small refuses to confront the racism and violence at the core of these rallies.

This is gaslighting on a national scale. Politicians stoke division with dog-whistle rhetoric about immigration, crime, or "social cohesion", then act shocked when the very forces they embolden turn violent. They call it "free speech". They call it "ordinary Australians". They call it anything but what it is: white supremacy.

As Liam Gillespie argues, March for Australia didn't happen in a vacuum. It stands in a long line stretching from the Frontier Wars, the White Australia Policy and the Cronulla riots to today. The far right is not invading Australian politics from the outside; it has always been here - nurtured by governments willing to weaponise racism for power while claiming respectability.

The refusal to name white supremacy as a threat, even after a sacred Aboriginal site was desecrated, shows how deep this complicity runs.

Let's call this what it is: a hate crime. An attack on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and on those who come here seeking safety, belonging and a future.

So, Senator Small, "heartened" is not the word to use about rallies where neo-Nazis commit violence. Your words embolden racism in our communities. This is not patriotism. It is heartbreaking. It is fascism dressed up to suit your rhetoric. Until you condemn this for what it is - racism, white supremacy, hate - your words will ring as hollow as every politician who denies Australia has a white supremacy problem.

The consequences of normalising fascism are not abstract. The Australian Human Rights Commission's 2025 Scoping Review on Racism and Health provides overwhelming evidence that racism, especially systemic and structural racism, devastates the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other racialised communities.

Senator Small represents a region where more than a quarter of residents were born overseas. His words betray the very people he was elected to serve.

Australia deserves better. We deserve leaders who understand that condemning racism means rejecting it in all forms - not just distancing themselves from its most extreme expressions while exploiting its political utility.

We deserve a future built on inclusion, truth and justice - not one where racism is repackaged as patriotism.

Renae Isaacs-Guthridge is a Noongar and Yamatji Yorga with connections across Countries, including Wardandi Boodja.

Belle Selkirk is a Noongar yorga living in Wadandi Boodja.