Canberra teen sentenced after Nazi salutes and white supremacist stickers at university

In Canberra, Zachery James Hook, now 19, admitted to making a Nazi salute in public between October and December of last year and to vandalising signs at the Australian National University with white-supremacist stickers in August and September. The stickers bore slogans linked to the outlawed National Socialist Network and were placed over Indigenous and BIPOC department signage, prompting a victim impact statement from Anne Martin, director of the Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre, who said the act caused great anxiety on campus.

The court heard that Hook never expressed remorse or renounced his extremist beliefs, and a letter from his parents offered no indication of changed views. His lawyer argued for leniency, citing his age, a clean record, and alleged retaliation against his home, requesting a suspended sentence. Hook faces a minimum of 12 months in prison, with sentencing to be revisited later this month.