Barnaby Joyce’s neo-Nazi encounter at a casino, the real story

Yesterday, Crikey sent Barnaby Joyce a request for comment on a story we were working on.

This morning, The Sydney Morning Herald, News24 and 2GB all ran a story about the topic of our inquiry: Barnaby Joyce’s “encounter” with prominent neo-Nazis at a Canberra casino.

Joyce was, the reports said, furious about claims he intentionally met with the group earlier this month — claims that weren’t published anywhere.

The allegation came from a source who had approached Crikey, having seen Joyce interact with notorious neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell and far-right influencer Hugo “Auspill” Lennon late on a Wednesday night at Canberra Casino. Sewell is the leader of the prohibited White Australia party, and was the leader of the National Socialist Network until its disbandment in 2026.

Crikey had contacted Joyce for comment about the claims, which is standard journalistic practice when examining allegations and fact-checking. But instead of getting back to us and explaining his version of events, he got on the front foot. We still haven’t heard from him despite repeated attempts, but other media certainly have.

The One Nation MP and two-time former deputy prime minister explained this morning that the encounter was entirely incidental, that he was approached by the men at the casino while there with a friend, and that he had no idea who they were. He told News24 they “seemed like weird dudes” and that he “made sure we stopped the conversation” after they began talking about “Anglo-Celtic and immigration and stuff like that”.

How the story unfolded

September 10: Crikey received a tip-off alleging that Barnaby Joyce had been seen in the Canberra Casino in the late hours of September 9 alongside Thomas Sewell and Hugo Lennon. The source alleged they had entered and left the venue together, something that Joyce has now vehemently denied to other media.

September 22: Crikey put questions to Joyce’s office, explaining that we were planning to publish a story surrounding the encounter and asking for comment. As in any journalistic enquiry, the allegations were put to him in full. We don’t hear back.

September 23: Crikey followed up our request to Joyce personally. The story is then first reported by Joyce himself, who made a round of conservative breakfast broadcast appearances. Joyce’s office forwarded Crikey’s email inquiry to journalists at The Sydney Morning Herald. 

The “exclusive” was claimed by 2GB’s James Willis, who first interviewed Joyce that morning. Willis starts by offering Joyce the chance to “potentially get on the front foot … and clear up a few details” about a “story coming about you today”.

Joyce then explains to Willis that he had been with former Panthers back rower Matt Adamson at the Canberra Casino in early September when he was approached by a group of men who Joyce said he did not recognise.

“Apparently I was (approached by senior and prominent neo-Nazis), but I wasn’t aware of it at the time,” Joyce said on 2GB.

“How were you not aware of it?” Willis asked.

“I don’t ask for people’s business cards,” Joyce said.

Joyce vehemently denied entering or leaving with the group of men, as had been alleged by a Crikey source and formed part of our initial enquiry to Joyce. He told Willis that that allegation was “completely and utterly incorrect”, a “lie”, and that he had people who could verify that.

Joyce said he didn’t recognise Sewell as “I don’t follow the neo-Nazis, I think they’re freaks”. He said that “it became apparent to me after a while” after the group approached him that “he was feeling awkward with them”, saying they mentioned something about “Anglo Saxon immigration and Pauline Hanson, they didn’t like her”, so he “brought the conversation to an end”.

The day after the source spotted Joyce at the casino, on September 10, Sewell said that his group White Australia would campaign to make Pauline Hanson prime minister, in the event that the ban allowing the group to exist was overturned by the High Court.

“Our purpose would be to support One Nation in forming government,” Sewell said. 

The episode comes two days after One Nation reacted with fury to a 9 News interview with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Thomas Robb, who praised Hanson’s politics. She called it “disgusting”. Joyce told News24’s Andrew Clennell that the Nine story was “garbage journalism”, and that Nine hadn’t contacted One Nation prior to broadcast.