From The Hun:

Southern Cross Soldiers plan Australia Day rally

January 23, 2009 12:00am

A RIGHT-WING nationalist group has organised a show of strength at a popular Melbourne beach on Australia Day.

The Southern Cross Soldiers, or SCS, has told members to gather at Mordialloc beach in Melbourne’s south this Monday to promote “Aussie Pride”.

The nationalist group, which boasts about 900 MySpace members, plans to meet at the steps of Flinders Street station at 12pm before heading to the beach “for drinks, etc” in what it describes as “the biggest day for SCS 2009″.

Police are monitoring the group and have assured beachgoers that existing patrols will be able to deal with any antisocial behaviour.

Members of SCS yesterday said the group was not racist and there were no plans to cause trouble at Mordialloc beach on Australia Day.

Anti-racism campaigner Cam Smith said the meeting was unlikely to get out of hand if police patrolled the popular beach on Australia Day.

“I don’t think there will be 5000 people there, so I think even normal beach patrols should be able to handle it,” Mr Smith said.

The Southern Cross Soldiers came to prominence last year after the police shooting of Northcote teenager Tyler Cassidy in December.

Tyler, 15, was a participant on the group’s chat sites before he was shot dead at a Northcote Shopping Centre.

A police spokeswoman said the group was known to police, but police recognised the right of people to join groups and meet as they wish.

“The aim of police is to ensure that these groups do not cause any harm or offend the wider community,” she said.

“Any gathering of a large group of people would be monitored by local police.”

SCS boasts chapters in Melbourne, the city’s north, north-east and west.

The group also has chapters in New South Wales, and the Gold Coast, with one member who uses the name “The Australian Defence Force”.