Australia lists neo-Nazi group The Base and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations

The Australian government will list the neo-Nazi group The Base as a terrorist organisation, together with the entirety of the Lebanese Shia political party and militant group Hezbollah.

The government also moved on Wednesday to expand the listing of Hezbollah, which represents the Lebanese Shia community and has military, political and social components.

The move follows long-standing calls for the government to list far-right groups, after warnings from intelligence agency Asio about the growing threat they pose.

Some within the government have previously raised concern about the use of the phrase right-wing extremism, and Asio now classes them under the umbrella category of ideologically motivated violent extremists.

Asked why it had taken so long to list The Base, Andrews said she did not take such designations lightly and wanted to make sure the groups met the legislative tests.

Andrews, who replaced Peter Dutton as home affairs minister in a reshuffle in late March, kept the door open to listing other far-right groups in future.

The Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group listed as a terrorist organisation in Canada, has not been designated as such in Australia.