Australia intends to add far-right extremist group The Base and the entirety of the Lebanese group Hezbollah to its list of outlawed terrorist organisations.
Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation has been listed since 2003, but including all Hezbollah entities as terrorist organisations would make being a member of, or supporting, those entities a criminal offense.
“The group continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provides support to terrorist organisations,” Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews said in a statement.
The Base, which originated in the United States, would become only the second far-right group to be designated a terrorist organisation in Australia after the British-based Sonnenkrieg Division was listed in August.
The remaining 25 terrorist organisations on Australia’s list are Muslim groups.
“The Base is a violent, racist, neo-Nazi group known by security agencies to be planning and preparing terrorist attacks,” Mrs Andrews said.
“The Base is currently proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom and is known to have organised paramilitary training camps overseas,” she added.