Police investigating after Tim Wilson’s ‘respectful society’ forum gatecrashed by white supremacist

Police are investigating after a white supremacist and serial protester gatecrashed a community event hosted by Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, claiming that immigration is an existential threat to Australia.

It is the third time the shadow treasurer has been confronted by the far-right activist in eight months and comes amid a rise in reported threats to politicians.

Wilson held a forum on the topic “How do we build a respectful society?” at Bentleigh East’s Boundary Hotel on Thursday night. Mid-way through the event, “blokes stormed in the rear of the event … two started recording and one started shouting,” Wilson said.

Video posted on social media shows Matt Trihey, a white supremacist and leader of the far-right National Workers Alliance, enter the venue and start pointing and shouting at Wilson, as a mostly elderly crowd watched on.

“I think I’ve made my point. What I want the politicians to do is address the biggest issue we have ever faced: crime and immigration,” Trihey said. “No one’s touching it because they’re too scared of being judged.

“No one’s touching it, and they must if we are to survive. This is an existential threat to our people.”

It is the third time Trihey has confronted the Goldstein MP. Wilson said Trihey had squared up to him outside a polling booth during last year’s federal election campaign and during a private meeting at a cafe last Friday.

“He was calm but intrusive during the middle of a meeting,” Wilson told this masthead of last week’s cafe encounter.

“Security is an increasingly large part of our consideration as I have previously been targeted with antisemitic threats for standing up for the Jewish community, and homophobic threats, in an increasingly unstable political environment.”

The trio of gatecrashers left the Boundary Hotel after about 10 minutes. In a statement, police said the men had left the area by the time they arrived and officers were making further enquiries.

Trihey was filmed in April last year gatecrashing a candidates’ forum in Kooyong, where he made similar complaints about immigration. Attendees of the forum told him to leave, but he refused, and eventually a distressed elderly woman rushed at Trihey and attempted to punch him in the face.

The Kooyong forum incident was circulated by supporters of the anti-immigration movement online.

Thursday night’s disruption comes as politicians report rising threats to their safety.

The Australian Federal Police investigated 950 politically motivated threats in the 2024-25 financial year, 63 per cent up on the previous four years put together.

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to leave The Lodge in Canberra following a bomb threat, later revealed to be a hoax.

Wilson was recently elevated to shadow treasurer in the Liberal Party reshuffle after winning back the federal seat of Goldstein by 175 votes.