From the Geelong Advertiser:

Race-hate Klan spreads ‘poison’
Kerri-ann Hobbs

WHITE supremacists in Geelong have joined a national recruitment drive by extremist group the Ku Klux Klan.

Their emergence has outraged community leaders who labelled them racists and cowards who hid behind robes of anonymity.

Yet the group was not motivated by racial hate but was about empowering white Christian Australians, the Victorian president - known as the Exalted Cyclops - Brian told the Geelong Advertiser.

“We just want to promote our own race, which is the white race.” Brian, who would not reveal his surname, said.

“None of us have been convicted of any violent acts.

“We just enjoy an invisible empire.

“We have always been a Christian organisation.” Brian, 36, said he joined the Klan about 11 years ago after a life-long interest in the group. He claimed in the past year the state’s membership grown to 25.

Geelong membership included white and blue-collar workers, across suburbs from Corio to Barwon Heads and a range of ages, he said.

The Victorian branch of the global group met every two months in Geelong in a secret “church” to conduct ritual cross burning and ceremonies.

Members wore the traditional white robes and hood and adhered to a strict moral code of ethics to ensure the group remained non-violent, Brian said.

But if immigrants or nonwhite Australians were causing problems within the community the group would intimidate them by dropping pamphlets in neighbourhood letterboxes to advise of the Klan ’s existence.

Geelong MP John Eren, who migrated to Australia from Turkey as a boy, warned there was no room in the city for extreme racist groups.

“I think if they ’re not afraid of what organisation they belong to and what beliefs they hold they should come out instead of hiding behind these frocks,” Mr Eren said.

“We don ’t want their poisonous views thrust upon our inclusive society.

“Just the mere mention of the name would incite fear in a lot of people.” Mr Eren said many new arrivals, especially those from Africa, had endured years of terror in their homelands before escaping to Australia to lead peaceful lives in the safety of Geelong ’s multicultural society.

In a written statement, Mayor Bruce Harwood said he was not aware the Ku Klux Klan was active in Geelong.

“This organisation would certainly not be supported in our region due to its racist and biased attitude,” Cr Harwood said.

Geelong regional migrant resource service Diversitat declined to comment.