Sydney Anzac Day heckler named as Penrith man with neo-Nazi ties

A 24-year-old Penrith man with alleged ties to a neo-Nazi group has been named as the suspected ringleader of the heckling that disrupted Saturday’s Anzac Day dawn service in Sydney’s Martin Place. 7News identified him as Eli Toby.

The reveal came after NSW Police arrested the man at the Cenotaph on Saturday morning and charged him with an act of nuisance at a war memorial. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on 3 June.

Confronted by 7News reporters outside his parents’ home in Penrith, Mr Toby refused to apologise. Asked whether he had anything to say to veterans and their families, he questioned how he had been found and asked that his parents not be told about the charge. “I haven’t told them yet. I’d rather you guys not tell them” he said.

Mr Toby was previously identified as a participant at a National Socialist Network rally outside NSW Parliament House last year. The group held the rally to “abolish the Jewish lobby”. Of his alleged conduct on Saturday, he said he “should be able to say what I like” and claimed “the Welcome to Country’s not right”. Asked whether the dawn service was the right venue, he said he “hadn’t really given it much thought to be honest”.

The booing in Sydney lasted around 66 seconds and interrupted Pastor and Uncle Ray Minniecon (a Kabi-Kabi, Gurang-Gurang and South Sea Islander elder and Australian Defence Force veteran) who delivered the Welcome to Country at the Cenotaph. The disruption was met by an extended chorus of applause from the thousands gathered in support of Uncle Minniecon.

RSL NSW acting president retired Brigadier Vincent Williams described the booing as the most appalling act he had ever seen at a dawn service. “I apologise unreservedly to Uncle Ray … his family has contributed enormously to our nation from the First World War to the current day” he said.

“I’m pretty convinced that none of the bunch of louts who were booing have ever done anything constructive for our nation.”

RSL Australia national president Peter Tinley questioned why hecklers had picked Anzac Day to make a statement. “There’s 364 other days they can make that statement, and why would they choose today?” Mr Tinley said.

After the ceremony Uncle Ray told the ABC the disruption reflected a longstanding pattern. “I think they’ve got to understand that this always was and always will be Aboriginal land” he said.

“We have experienced this type of racism now for over 230 years … what crime did we commit to attract this kind of racism and this kind of hate?”

NSW Police confirmed the man was identified by officers attached to Operation Anzac Day, taken to Day Street Police Station and charged with commit nuisance in or on a war memorial. Several others were issued move-on directions. The RSL has indicated it will review elements of the dawn service after the disruption.