Jim Saleam

James Saleam (/ˈseɪləm/; born 18 September 1955) is an Australian far-right extremist[3] and the current chairman of the Australia First Party. Saleam has been observed wearing a swastika armband and associating with neo-Nazi skinheads.[4] Saleam has been described as a white nationalist, who has been a strong advocate of barring further immigration to preserve a "self-contained, predominantly white nation resistant to further immigration or watering-down of its culture".[5][6]

Jim Saleam
Saleam at a nationalist rally, 2013
Chairman of the Australia First Party
Assumed office
18 July 2010
Deputy ChairmanPeter Schuback
Preceded byOffice established;
Diane Teasdale (as President of the Federal Australia First Party)
General Secretary of the Australia First Party
In office
19 December 2002 – August 2007
PresidentDiane Teasdale
Preceded byNo immediate predecessor
Succeeded byNo immediate successor
Leader of the National Action Party
In office
25 April 1982 – 11 June 1997
DeputyRoss May
Preceded byParty established
Succeeded byMichael Brander
Deputy Leader of the
National Socialist Party of Australia
In office
c. 1972 – 1975
Served with Ross May
LeaderTed Cawthron
Preceded byFrank Molnar
Succeeded byParty dissolved
Personal details
Born
James Saleam

(1955-09-18) 18 September 1955
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia
Political partyAustralia First
(2002–07; 2010—present)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse(s)
Jane Mengler
​
​
(m. 1987; div. 1994)​
[1]
Children2
ResidenceTempe, New South Wales, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Known forFar-right activism, criminal convictions, neo-Nazism, founding National Action and Australia First Party[2]
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Early life

Saleam, the son of Lebanese immigrants, was born on September 18, 1955 in Maryborough, Queensland.[7] In 1970, at the age 15 he joined the National Socialist Party of Australia. He was arrested and convicted for the fire-bombing a Maoist bookshop in Brisbane in 1972.[8]

Political activism

Before moving to the far-right, Saleam was a member of the Worker Student Alliance, a youth organisation involved with the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist).[9]

In 1975, "much to his later chagrin", Saleam was photographed in full Nazi uniform at a public meeting.[9] On Anzac Day 1982, he co-founded National Action (NA), which eventually collapsed due to Saleam's convictions for property offences and fraud in 1984, possession of a prohibited article - a large nail-studded club in 1985, and for organising a shotgun attack in 1989 on African National Congress Australian representative Eddie Funde, for which he served three years in prison.[8][6][10]

After his release from prison, Saleam was awarded a PhD in politics from the University of Sydney by writing a thesis entitled The Other Radicalism: An Inquiry into Contemporary Australian Extreme Right Ideology, Politics And Organization 1975–1995.[11]

Saleam has acted as a mentor for the Patriotic Youth League.

In 2004, Saleam contested the NSW local government elections, and ran for Marrickville Council on an anti-refugee platform. In 2012, he ran for NSW local government election in the City of Blue Mountains.[12][13][14]

Australia First Party

Saleam was the Secretary of the Sydney branch of the Australia First Party (AFP) between 2002 and 2007, when he became its chairman, and sought to reestablish the party. In July 2009, he announced that it had reached its target of 500 members and was registering the New South Wales branch party with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and was reregistered on 13 June 2010, in time to contest the 2010 federal election.

AFP contested the 2013 federal election, Saleam standing in the seat of Cook on a platform to end refugee intakes, running against Scott Morrison. He received 617 votes, or 0.67% of the vote.

On 14 July 2015, the AEC deregistered the AFP due to its failure to demonstrate the required number of members. It was reregistered on 1 March 2016 as "Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated".[15]

Saleam stood at the 2016 federal election in the seat of Lindsay and received 1068 votes or 1.2% of the vote. He stood for AFP in the 2018 Longman by-election, receiving 709 votes or 0.8% of the vote.[16]

Saleam stood in the seat of Cootamundra, New South Wales, in the 2017 by-election as an independent, though still a member of Australia First, as the party is not registered for state elections.[17] He received 453 votes, 1% of the total. He again stood in the seat at the 2019 New South Wales state election as an independent, receiving 0.95% of the vote. Saleam's platform included the reintroduction of the White Australia policy and opposition to Chinese immigration.[18]

Personal life

Saleam married Jane Mengler in 1987. They had two children and divorced in 1994.[1]

Electoral history

Federal Parliament elections

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2013 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Cook[edit]
2013 Australian federal election: Cook[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Scott Morrison 55,707 60.35 +2.47
Labor Peter Scaysbrook 22,850 24.76 −4.05
Greens Mithra Cox 6,058 6.56 −1.17
Palmer United Matthew Palise 3,765 4.08 +4.08
Christian Democrats Beth Smith 1,981 2.15 +0.23
Independent Graeme Strang 1,321 1.43 −0.32
Australia First Jim Saleam 617 0.67 +0.67
Total formal votes 92,299 94.08 −0.11
Informal votes 5,813 5.92 +0.11
Turnout 98,112 94.17 −0.25
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Scott Morrison 61,244 66.35 +3.69
Labor Peter Scaysbrook 31,055 33.65 −3.69
Liberal hold Swing+3.69
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2016 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Lindsay[edit]
2016 Australian federal election: Lindsay[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Emma Husar 36,675 41.08 +2.05
Liberal Fiona Scott 35,081 39.30 −7.35
Greens Kingsley Liu 3,199 3.58 +0.52
Christian Democrats Warren Wormald 2,701 3.03 +0.24
Marcus Cornish 2,128 2.38 +2.38
Liberty Alliance Stephen Roddick 2,110 2.36 +2.36
Xenophon Stephen Lynch 1,850 2.07 +2.07
Family First Linda La Brooy 1,513 1.69 +1.69
Justice Scott Grimley 1,497 1.68 +1.68
Animal Justice Deborah Blundell 1,454 1.63 +1.63
Australia First Jim Saleam 1,068 1.20 +0.50
Total formal votes 89,276 88.23 −3.56
Informal votes 11,913 11.77 +3.56
Turnout 101,189 92.22 −2.07
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Emma Husar 45,633 51.11 +4.10
Liberal Fiona Scott 43,643 48.89 −4.10
Labor gain from Liberal Swing+4.10
This section is an excerpt from 2018 Longman by-election § Results[edit]
Longman by-election: 28 July 2018[21][22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Susan Lamb 35,203 39.84 +4.45
Liberal National Trevor Ruthenberg 26,170 29.61 −9.40
One Nation Matthew Stephen 14,061 15.91 +6.50
Greens Gavin Behrens 4,264 4.83 +0.44
Independent Jackie Perkins 2,379 2.69 +2.69
Liberal Democrats Lloyd Russell 1,762 1.99 +1.99
Country Blair Verrier 1,387 1.57 +1.57
Democratic Labour Gregory Bell 1,043 1.18 +1.18
Science James Noonan 970 1.10 +1.10
Australia First Jim Saleam 709 0.80 +0.80
People's Party John Reece 420 0.48 +0.48
Total formal votes 88,368 93.93 +2.46
Informal votes 5,707 6.07 −2.46
Turnout 94,075 84.26 −7.42
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Susan Lamb 48,116 54.45 +3.66
Liberal National Trevor Ruthenberg 40,252 45.55 −3.66
Labor hold Swing+3.66
This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2019 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Lindsay[edit]
2019 Australian federal election: Lindsay[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Melissa McIntosh 45,247 46.45 +7.16
Labor Diane Beamer 34,690 35.61 −5.47
Greens Nick Best 4,781 4.91 +1.33
United Australia Christopher Buttel 2,831 2.91 +2.91
Independent Mark Tyndall 2,785 2.86 +2.86
Conservative National Brandon Lees 2,374 2.44 +2.44
Christian Democrats Mark Moody-Basedow 1,997 2.05 −0.98
Australia First Jim Saleam 1,372 1.41 +0.21
Sustainable Australia Geoff Brown 1,326 1.36 +1.36
Total formal votes 97,403 88.92 +0.69
Informal votes 12,135 11.08 −0.69
Turnout 109,538 92.26 +0.03
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Melissa McIntosh 53,614 55.04 +6.15
Labor Diane Beamer 43,789 44.96 −6.15
Liberal gain from Labor Swing+6.15

state Parliament elections

This section is an excerpt from 2017 Cootamundra state by-election § Results[edit]
2017 Cootamundra state by-election [24][25]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Steph Cooke 21,093 46.2 −19.6
Labor Charlie Sheahan 10,930 24.0 −2.0
Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Matthew Stadtmiller 10,621 23.3 +23.3
Christian Democrats Philip Langfield 1,273 2.8 +0.5
Greens Jeffrey Passlow 1,238 2.7 −0.8
Independent Jim Saleam 453 1.0 +1.0
Total formal votes 45,608 97.7 +0.4
Informal votes 1,057 2.3 −0.4
Turnout 46,665 87.2 −4.7
Two-party-preferred result
National Steph Cooke 24,114 60.5 −10.0
Labor Charlie Sheahan 15,769 39.5 +10.0
National hold Swing−10.0

See also

References
  1. "Good Weekend and Dr James Saleam". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  2. Petrinic, Isabell (2 June 2016). "Lindsay: Scramble over minor and independent preferences". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  3. Fellner, Carrie. "Right wing extremist makes election bid in sleepy NSW 'cherry capital'". Sydeny Morning Herald. Nine. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  4. Several articles discuss Saleam's criminal convictions, contain photographs of Saleam wearing Nazi attire and describe Saleam as a neo-Nazi or former neo-Nazi: Petrinic, Isabell (2 June 2016). "Lindsay: Scramble over minor and independent preferences". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. West, Andrew (29 February 2004). "White separatist takes on Marrickville". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  6. Gibson, Jano; Frew, Wendy (12 January 2008). "No apology for white Australia policy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  7. Crisp, Lyndall (4 April 1989). "Harvest of Hate". Australian Consolidated Press. The Bulletin. pp. 42–49. “Saleam was born [on September 18, 1955] in Maryborough, Queensland, of Lebanese migrant parents. He joined the Nazi Party (the National Socialist Party of Australia) in 1970. Two years later, aged 17, he was found guilty of fire-bombing a Maoist bookshop [East Wind] in Brisbane and put on a four-year good behavior bond"
  8. Crisp, Lyndall (4 April 1989). "Harvest of Hate". Australian Consolidated Press. The Bulletin. pp. 42–49.
  9. Moore, Andrew (1995). The Right Road?: A History of Right-Wing Politics in Australia. Oxford University Press. p. 121. ISBN 019553512X.
  11. Saleam, James. The Other Radicalism: An Inquiry Into Contemporary Australian Extreme Right Ideology, Politics And Organization 1975–1995 (PhD). Fisher Library, University of Sydney. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Local Council Elections – Australia First Party in Ward One". Katoomba Leura Online. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  14. "Cook, NSW". Election 2013. Australian Electoral Commission. 1 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  15. Registration and deregistration details:
  16. Electoral results:
  17. Grey, Lachlan (27 August 2017). "Australia First leader Jim Saleam to contest Cootamundra by-election in November". Cootamundra Herald. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  18. Right wing extremist makes election bid in sleepy NSW 'cherry capital'
  19. 2013 results for Cook, AEC.
  20. Lindsay, NSW, Virtual Tally Room 2016, Australian Electoral Commission.
  21. "2018 Longman by-election results: AEC". Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  22. "2018 Longman by-election results: ABC". Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  23. Lindsay, NSW, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.
  24. "First Preference Votes Report Parliamentary Election: Cootamundra". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  25. "State Electoral District of Cootamundra: Distribution of Preferences". NSW Electoral Commission. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
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