Posters of the Bondi shooter appeared around Melbourne. The culprit has now been unmasked

Sherryn Groch
February 10, 2026 — 9:45am

A wealthy neo-Nazi associate has unmasked himself as the architect of an offensive series of posters depicting the Bondi shooter which had appeared in the middle of the night around Melbourne recently, in the latest in a series of far-right stunts exploiting Australia’s worst terror attack.

Police had been closing in on those behind the mysterious poster stunt, which had hijacked the style of an iconic Australian poster art series to include an image of Naveed Akram, one of the gunmen of the Bondi Beach terror attack, with the word “Aussie” beneath his face.

Overnight, Hugo Lennon posted a video online showing himself and another far-right influencer putting up the posters in high-vis clothing late at night.

Lennon claimed in the video that he had used “intel” from “patriots” to decide the target sites for the poster campaign, without elaborating.

His video appeared following rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday protesting the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi terror attack in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured at a Hanukkah celebration.

The poster stunt was an attempt, Lennon said, to mock the well-known series by artist Peter Drew which celebrates multiculturalism and challenges xenophobic views of what an Australian is meant to look like. Other posters covertly put up by Lennon and his associates featured US President Donald Trump and Man Haron Monis, who carried out the deadly Lindt Cafe siege in 2014.

Lennon took issue with the assertion of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece that his spoof posters were not art, and claiming he and an associate had pushed Drew’s idea to its “logical limits”. He mocked the widespread condemnation the stunt had received, including from Melbourne’s Jewish community.

Drew had publicly challenged those behind the knock-off posters to come forward and Reece had called it a “sick” act of hate while families were still grieving after the Bondi massacre.

On Tuesday, Drew said: “This is what happens when white boys spend too much time online. I think they should apologise for embarrassing their parents and be grounded for two weeks (with no Xbox).

“It’s just sad. have their whole lives ahead of them, but they’re throwing it all away for online clout.”

This masthead previously revealed that Lennon, a Scotch college graduate from a wealthy property development family, and a key organiser of the anti-immigration March for Australia rallies, is also an associate of Australia’s main neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network (NSN).

The NSN was working with Lennon behind the scenes to run the March for Australia rallies, but disbanded on paper last month to escape the government’s new crackdown on extremism, though experts warn those now cut loose from the group’s orbit are more volatile than ever.

Far-right threats to kidnap Albanese, post bombs to mosques, secret chats reveal
Last month, this masthead revealed that a string of threats uncovered in a secret chatroom run by March for Australia organisers and NSN neo-Nazis, including a $10,000 plot to kidnap Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, had led to at least two police raids in the lead up to the latest Australia Day rallies.

Lennon helped run and promoted that Discord chatroom, using it to help organise the March for Australia rallies and promote his own content online, but didn’t take part in the threats or extremist views shared on it.

The chatroom has since been shut down by the gaming platform Discord for breaching rules “about violent extremism”, and most of its users suspended.

Albanese has acknowledged the threats uncovered there and called for Australians to “turn down the temperature of political debate”.

The City of Melbourne said its staff had been working around the clock to remove about 40 of the spoof posters put up by Lennon and his associates.

Victoria Police said it was still investigating after “several posters of concern” first “popped up in Richmond, the CBD and its surrounds” ahead of the March for Australia rallies in late January.

“Officers have reviewed CCTV and our inquiries are ongoing in relation to the offence of billposting,” a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Police continued to liaise with Melbourne City Council on the incidents, the spokesperson said.

Drew’s distinctive “Aussie” posters, which show Australians photographed in the early 1900s with the word “Aussie” in large type at the bottom, have been plastered on walls around the country for the past decade.

He first created the series in 2016 in response to anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia. The best-known poster in the series features Monga Khan, an Afghan cameleer in a turban, while another features a young Jewish boy.

When questioned repeatedly by this masthead, Lennon has not denied his ties to the NSN or neo-Nazi involvement in the marches.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/posters-of-the-bondi-shooter-appeared-around-melbourne-the-culprit-has-now-been-unmasked-20260209-p5o0va.html