While hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 22, 2023, the Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons honoured the presence in the gallery of a 98-year-old “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.”

Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of history should have immediately recognised that any Ukrainian fighting against “the Russians”—our ally—in WWII must have been fighting for the Nazis.

Instead, the entire audience present in the Canadian Parliament, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Zelensky, leapt to their feet and gave a standing ovation to the beaming veteran of the Nazi Waffen SS 14th Galicia Division, which massacred Jews, Poles, and Russians in the war.

This is now a huge scandal in Canada, with Trudeau disclaiming any knowledge and deflecting the blame entirely on the Speaker, who has taken the fall.

But Australia has the same problem, which nobody in Parliament or the media is talking about.

In supporting Ukraine with close to $1 billion since February 2022, the Morrison and now Albanese governments have, like Trudeau, also promoted outright Nazis in Australia.

On February 23, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the press conference: “My first thoughts are for all of the people of Ukraine and for those many 38,000 Australians of Ukrainian descent who are here. I spoke to Stefan Romaniw, who heads up the Ukrainian community here in Australia.” In March 2022, Morrison gave a $450,000 grant to Romaniw’s Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) as support for their efforts to settle Ukrainian refugees.

Anthony Albanese has also met with Romaniw. As Opposition Leader on February 14, 2022, Albanese said in Parliament: “Last Friday I met with the chairman of the [AFUO], Stefan Romaniw, and other Ukrainian community leaders in Melbourne. I indicated to them Labour’s clear position of solidarity with the people of Ukraine and our absolute rejection of any Russian military action that violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence.”

Liberal Senator James Paterson invited the AFUO to testify in his Senate enquiry into foreign interference through social media.

So who are Stefan Romaniw and the AFUO? Ask other Ukrainians in Australia, such as the Australian Ukrainian Congress, and they will tell you bluntly—they are Nazis.

Stefan Romaniw (pronounced Ro-MAAN-yiv) was for 13 years (2009–22) the worldwide chairman of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists-Bandera (OUN-B), which was founded in WWII by Ukraine’s most famous Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

Despite efforts in recent times to whitewash OUN-B and its military wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), as freedom fighters against the Soviets and Germans, there is no denying Bandera and OUN-B were often collaborators with the Nazis, including in notorious massacres of Jews, Poles, fellow Ukrainians, and Russians. Since 2014, the Israeli government has regularly complained to Ukraine about its increasing veneration of Nazi-collaborator Bandera.

One of the member organisations of the Romaniw’s AFUO named on its website is the Brotherhood of Ex-Servicemen in Australia; the Ukrainian version of the name on the website, however, is the Fraternity of the 1st Division of the UNA, meaning the Ukrainian National Army.

The UNA comprised the very same Nazi Waffen SS 14th Galicia Division, which included the Nazi veteran applauded in the Canadian Parliament.

Australian Citizens Party Research Director Robert Barwick said: “The obsessive hatred of Russia that dominates our geopolitical analysis is now allowing real Nazis to walk openly among us.

“Whatever happened to ‘never again’?

“It is unacceptable that Ukrainian-Australians who are trying to expose these Nazis are being ignored by politicians and the media.”

Justin Lance Marcel Lavadia

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Justin Lavadia is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum with a diverse writing background spanning various niches and formats. With a wealth of experience, he brings clarity and concise communication to digital content. His expertise lies in crafting engaging content and delivering impactful narratives that resonate with readers.

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