Australian National Socialist Party
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Australian National Socialist Party
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|---|---|
| Leader | Ted Cawthron Don Lindsay Arthur Smith |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Dissolved | 1968 |
| Succeeded by | National Socialist Party of Australia |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
| Ideology |
Nazism White supremacy |
| Political position | Far-right |
The Australian National Socialist Party (ANSP) was a minor Australian Nazi (short for national socialist) party that was formed in 1962. It merged into the National Socialist Party of Australia, originally a splinter group, in 1968.
The Australian National Socialist Party was launched in 1962 by University of Adelaide physics student Ted Cawthron and Sydney council worker Don Lindsay. The party consisted entirely of these two until they were joined in July 1963 by Arthur Smith, a prominent figure in the Australian Nationalist Workers' Party, an attempted continuation of the "Australian Party" founded in September 1955 by right-wing journalist Frank Browne and disbanded in September 1957. Browne's party never had a serious following, though the party received some media attention and generally advocated far right positions. Vigorously anti-communist, its principles included the perpetuation of the White Australia policy, a defence policy focused on threats from Asia, and the total annexation of New Guinea.
Smith was the party's first leader. In 1964 a tiny Victorian group, the Australian National Renaissance Party, was incorporated into the ANSP. Its total membership remained very small, although it received substantial publicity from a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners, which broadcast the proceedings of a general meeting and prompted calls for National Socialism to be banned.
The ANSP's headquarters were raided by police on 26 June 1964, during which Smith and four other party members were arrested. The five were charged with a variety of offences, with Smith convicted of possessing unlicensed firearms and explosives and possession of stolen goods; he served a six-month gaol term. While Smith was imprisoned, Robert Pope, who had led the Australian National Renascence Party, became acting leader, but the party's membership had collapsed following the raid. Attorney-General Billy Snedden told parliament that the party was under surveillance and probably had a membership of fewer than 100. Pope had Smith expelled from the party while he was in prison, and by late 1964 the party was essentially moribund.
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