Neo-Nazis who disrupted an Anzac Day dawn service when they booed a Welcome to Country have pledged to continue their crusade.

Jacob Hersant, 27, Michael Nelson, 22, and Nathan Bull, 24, were on Thursday found guilty and sentenced for behaving in an offensive manner in a public place during the service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance in 2025.

Ian Harvey Lomax, 35, who was also linked to the booing incident, was also found guilty and punished for the offence in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

About 50,000 people stood under the Shrine in the pre-dawn darkness as Bunurong elder Mark Brown began to deliver a Welcome to Country when the peace was broken by heckles and boos from the crowd.

Hersant, Bull and an unknown man began booing from the crowd, with Hersant shouting “we don’t want to be welcomed” and “what about the Anzacs”, magistrate James Fitzgerald said.

Nearby, Nelson and Lomax also booed and when others in the crowd told them to stop and show respect, Nelson deliberately goaded them with opinions calculated to cause distress by saying “Australia for the white man” and “fighting for white people”.

Fitzgerald referred to witnesses who described how the men’s actions left them feeling sickened and embarrassed, while one woman started crying.

“Dawn services are not a time for noisy argument, heated debate or political views,” Fitzgerald said.

“The occasion is embedded into the fabric of Australian society. This was the context. This is what the behaviour disrupted.

“You took it upon yourselves to impose your views on a sacred event.”

He said the hushed and reverential nature of dawn services rose above all politics and the men’s “transgressive” behaviour was likely to arouse resentment and anger in reasonable people.

But he took into account the varying levels of engagement by each of the men on the day.

Hersant and Nelson were both convicted and handed $1900 fines. Bull was fined $1000 and Lomax $800 without convictions.

Prosecutor Ryan Mallia said the serious nature of the booing had maximum impact as it was heard by potentially all attendees and broadcast on live television during the most sacred day honouring fallen soldiers.

The men had argued the incident wasn’t offensive because community opposition to Welcome to Country ceremonies at Anzac dawn services was widespread, citing an interview with former prime minister Tony Abbott and an Institute of Public Affairs survey.

As three of the men left court, they were heckled and began arguing with anti-fascist activist Jasmine Duff. Police had to step in to separate the two sides.

Hersant maintained his actions on the day were honourable and said the group was “not sorry for what we did”.

“I’m not surprised by the judgment. It is what it is,” he said.

“It’s not going to deter me at all in expressing my point of view. I think people should continue to boo the Welcome to Country.”

The incident drew widespread condemnation from the RSL and political leaders. On Thursday, Shrine of Remembrance acting chair Catherine Carrigan condemned the “disgraceful and disrespectful behaviour”.

Carrigan said the verdict reflected the seriousness of any conduct that compromised the sanctity of the dawn service.

“While the actions of a small number of individuals attracted significant attention, they stood in stark contrast to the behaviour of the overwhelming majority who came to honour veterans and those who have given service to our nation,” she said.

Anzac Day dawn service acknowledgement ceremonies were again booed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in 2026.

Eli Joseph Toby, who booed during Uncle Ray Minniecon’s Welcome to Country at Sydney’s dawn service in April, pleaded guilty and was fined $880 on Wednesday.

-AAP